


Sunshine After a Storm

by enloeddmedia



Category: Star Wars - All Media Types, Star Wars Sequel Trilogy
Genre: Alcohol, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Angst, Anxious Rey, Ben and Hux are friends, Cattle Farm, Chickens, Comfort, Cowboy Ben Solo, Cowboy Han Solo, Cows, Dairy - Freeform, Dairy farm, Eggs, Explicit Language, Explicit Sexual Content, F/M, Feral Rey (Star Wars), Fishing, Fluff and Angst, Fluff and Hurt/Comfort, Fluff and Smut, Food, Good Boy Ben Solo, Happy Ending, Horseback Riding, Horses, Hunting Bow, Hux is NOT a pretentious jerk for once, Loneliness, Mentioned Han Solo, Mentioned Hunting, Mentioned Leia Organa, Mentioned Past Drug Selling, Mentioned Past Non-con Attempt, Mentioned Past Suicidal Thoughts, Mentioned Rodeo, Mentioned Snoke (Star Wars), My chicken recipe is in this story, Natural Disasters, New Jersey, No Pregnancy, Oral Sex, Orchards, POV Ben Solo, POV Rey (Star Wars), Past Kylo Ren, Pennsylvania, Protective Ben Solo, Redeemed Ben Solo, Rescue, Shooting Guns, Shooting at Targets, Shower Sex, Soft Ben Solo, Some Humor, Unprotected Sex, Vaginal Sex, Vaguely Mentioned Trying for Pregnancy, Vegetable Farm, ben has a past, farmer Ben, farming, flood rescue, lots of food talk, meat - Freeform, mentioned past abuse, mostly - Freeform, so does hux
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-14
Updated: 2021-01-16
Packaged: 2021-03-16 10:01:31
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 43,651
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28704846
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/enloeddmedia/pseuds/enloeddmedia
Summary: “Kid, times are gonna come when you can’t be bothered thinking things through, but when they do, there’s a part of you that will always rise up to the occasion, and that part’s got Solo branded all over it.”Ben Solo is spurred by his father’s words when he sees a woman clinging to a tree in the midst of a flood. With a rope and the blood of Han “Ridin’ Solo” in his veins, he knows he’ll give anything to save her or die trying.A beautiful tourist with nothing but the soggy clothes on her back and nowhere to go, Rey clings to him in desperation. As the days go by, Rey unfolds to him like a blossom in April, and it’s getting so he wishes he would never have to bring her home.But does she feel the same way? Or was it all fear and necessity that landed her in his arms? All he knows is his dark, lonely life is suddenly lit like sunshine after a storm, and he never wants to let that beautiful light of his go.
Relationships: Armitage Hux/Rose Tico, Poe Dameron/Finn, Rey & Ben Solo, Rey & Ben Solo | Kylo Ren, Rey/Ben Solo, Rey/Ben Solo | Kylo Ren
Comments: 92
Kudos: 220





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BenSoloHands](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BenSoloHands/gifts).



> This is a gift fic for and based on a flood rescue prompt from Bensolohands (who also created the moodboard! Credit to @TheDinkum_Reylo on Twitter for bottom center pic.) I couldn't resist writing on this topic. It's a bit of an obsession for me, partly fascination, partly real life danger as my house is 20-30 feet from a creek that does flood and has in the past flooded our house (but not while we lived here.) I'll add more in the end notes. But basically, I couldn't resist the prompt. 
> 
> First and foremost, the rescue that follows is NOT a how-to or suggestion or anything like that, more a desperate action from someone that had no other choice, nor was it fully vetted as to the dozens of reasons why the choices that are made are probably a bad idea in real life rescues. It's more of a "this is what he decided with the time he had with the items he had," so in other words, please don't run out into a flood with these instructions!
> 
> Besides research into floods in my own area, this story is partly inspired by an incredible, harrowing, true story of a flood sparked by a hurricane in 1955 in the Delaware River watershed encompassing the eastern portions of Pennsylvania and western portions of New Jersey in the USA. I highly recommend "Devastation on the Delaware" by Mary A. Shafer but like I said, it is harrowing, heartbreaking, very real, and not everyone sees a happy ending. But it's an incredible study of how multiple events occurred to create devastation during a hurricane that veered farther inland than usual, and the writing is so engaging. Some of what happens in this story is inspired by some of the things that happened in this book. 
> 
> This takes place in a fictional town in Wayne County in northeastern Pennsylvania. While it had also experienced a devastating flood years prior to the 1955 one, it was also affected during that one. Wayne County is one of my favorite spots to go, had family living out there and we usually go once a year to visit. So this is a bit of a love letter to the area, full of mountains, farms (including dairy,) forest, and some of the clearest waterways I've ever seen. 
> 
> Some of the characters use a country lingo, which may seem like it doesn't belong in the northeast of the US, but in this area it's not uncommon.

“Well, guess I ain’t leaving town.” Ben Solo shook his head at the remains of the bridge. The river had devoured it without mercy, the third one he found like this. The weather forecast said the hurricane would stay farther east, but its detour into the high mountains of northeastern Pennsylvania was leaving a path of destruction the likes of which he’d never seen.

He’s fished and swam this river plenty in his life, but never seen it look so angry, whirling with foam caps, undulating with an ominous roar, a fetid stench of raw earth tainted with sewage and fuel laying heavily in the air. Ben wanted to check on his neighbors, but cell service and phone lines were down. He could see the tattered remains of an old building on the far side of the watery maelstrom and shook his head. That building was nowhere near the river on any other day. He hoped Hux had nothing important stored in there. If his barn hadn’t been further uphill, Hux could easily have lost his cattle.

After shaking out his umbrella, Ben stepped on the footbed of his pickup truck and hauled himself up. Above the roar, a harrowing scream shook him right to his bones. He turned toward the river, thinking it was Hux’s wife, Rose, and saw something that sunk his gut. Like a whale that didn’t belong on the river, a hatchback bobbed precariously in the muddy torrent and lodged itself in a section of trees. They once stood majestic but were nothing but twigs in the flood waters. The car’s front end tipped down, and moments later, flailing arms amidst another shriek angled out of the driver’s side window.

“Oh SHIT!” Even if phone service wasn’t out, there’s no way the fire department could even get to her, let alone in enough time. The car started sinking as a soaking wet body scrambled for purchase on its slick roof.

There was no time for anything, especially think. His late father always told him, “Kid, times are gonna come when you can’t be bothered thinking things through, but when they do, there’s a part of you that will always rise up to the occasion, and that part’s got Solo branded all over it.”

Ben leapt into the truck bed and flung open the storage chest. He’d hoped he wouldn’t have to pull out the cow rescue kit. Luckily, the barn sustained no damage and none in the herd escaped despite downed trees and a broken fence. But this time the huge coil of rope usually meant for wrangling a meandering bovine would be used in a life or death split decision.

He tied the end to the hitch that on better days would bring his fishing boat to this river. At the other end, he knotted a loop and tied the free dangling length to an empty plastic gas container he’d been meaning to fill and glad he didn’t. It wasn’t the best rescue kit he’d ever seen, but it was better than nothing.

With his lifeline in hand, Ben ran with all the strength in his powerful legs toward the edge of the floodwaters. There he assessed what the hell he was going to do. The thin woman tried to grasp the tips of those trees while her car bucked and shifted beneath her. Fuck! There was no way he could throw the rope out to her, and her position upstream meant he couldn’t easily swim toward her. Damn, if only he had brought his boat out. No time to get it now.

“HOLD ON!” he cried as he slipped his arm through the loop of rope. He had to assure her he was there, let her know she wasn’t alone. Her huge, terror-filled eyes turned to him, and she screamed for help just as her car rolled in the torrent and slipped out from beneath her.

Her sobbing cries broke his heart as she gripped the swaying branches with all her might. How those trees held up this long was anyone’s guess, and he didn’t want to think about the inevitable.

He didn’t have to.

The current ripped at her body while she clung desperately, but her hands kept slipping farther down the branch.

Like Dad always said, sometimes the Solo in you just has to take over in order to see things through.

Whatever ran in his blood—the kind that propelled his father through the rodeo circuit and later in some questionable dealings that had him skirting the law—Ben ran toward the jagged remains of the bridge, rope unwinding in spirals behind him.

Concrete gave way to steel beams as a scream was quickly silenced by water. Ben leapt from the edge, his entire body, heart, and soul directed toward the woman barreling toward his position. Whatever higher power existed in the universe, it was in those hands now as his body careened through the air into a watery hell.

Ben sucked in a breath before he dunked feet first into the water. It was warmer than he expected, nothing like the cool, crisp, mountain clear it usually was. He fought to the surface and sputtered once he broke to the air. The current yanked him at a breakneck pace that already set terror in his soul. But there was no time for that. Dad would always say, “Kid, worry about fear later. You got a job to do.”

Flapping arms were just upstream of him, so he forced everything into his arms and legs to reach her. Then that head of hers dipped beneath the surface, and he knew this was his last chance. He pushed against the water with everything in him and just grabbed everywhere he could.

Fabric caught in his hand at the last moment before she slipped past him. He hauled against a current that wanted to claim this poor girl with a passion until he could finally pull her up against him.

Years ago, he had been a lifeguard at the local summer camp and knew the best way to grab her would be from behind or she’d pull him down with her. He wrangled a much smaller body up against his chest, boosting her head out of the water and onto his shoulder.

She coughed and flailed. That was good. He really didn’t want to be hauling an unconscious body out of the river. Or worse.

“I got you!” he cried as waves splashed against his face. “Grab hold of the can, alright?” Those panicking arms wrapped around her red lifeline. Perfect. The calmer she was, the easier this would go. “I’m gonna need you to just kick, help me out here, keep yourself floating and just kick. Can you do that, sweetheart?”

She didn’t answer, but her legs pounded the water. Good. They had to stay close to the surface until they could get to a shallower portion. Too many things could be lying beneath in the opaque brown that had claimed his favorite river.

He held her against him, paddling and kicking, and she kicked along, her terrified gasps of breath both a relief and a heartbreak. Poor thing. He needed to just get her the hell out of this monster and onto dry land.

Ben’s feet finally hit solid ground. With one hand gripping the rope and the other cradling the woman, he hauled himself upright. The ground mushed beneath each step, and every time he slipped she would scream and sob. But he wasn’t letting her go. No, nothing was taking this woman from his arms.

Finally they pushed out of the water and onto land. The sod broke off in chunks beneath his feet, and he was having the worst of trouble climbing up the rest of the hill while she slipped beside him. Another weak patch took them both down into the mud.

The woman kicked and screamed as she slid down toward the water again, but he pulled her back up and held her against his chest. There they lay and breathed. Maybe they needed that, to just breathe.

Her body trembled in his arms, panic-filled sobs rattling the poor girl.

“It’s alright, hon,” he crooned. “You’re safe now. You’re safe.”

The rain pelted them from above. Although cold, it was cleansing and forgiving, unlike the river. But they couldn’t stay like that long. Her shivering would go from fear to hypothermia any moment.

Ben sat up, still holding her in his arms. “Come on, let’s get on out of here. Somewhere dry and warm.”

She tried to get to her feet as he did, but the ground just kept giving beneath her. “I’m slipping!” Arms wild, Ben had no choice but to grasp her against him once more to keep her from sliding down that hill right back into hell.

He dug his boots into the mushy earth. “I got you, sweetheart. Just hold on to me, hear? I got the rope, I ain’t going nowhere and neither are you.”

Her arms squeezed his ribs, audible breaths of panic whimpering into his chest. He pulled at the rope while watching the ground to make sure he could keep his footing. It was only then he realized her shoes were missing, sucked off by the funneling current. Once he got to level ground where he knew he didn’t need the rope’s support anymore, he lifted her into his arms in a bridal carry the rest of the way to the truck.

She was silent as he sat her in the passenger seat. On the other side, he turned the ignition and blasted the heat.

“Just relax there,” Ben said, “I gotta get the rope put back.”

She didn’t look at him, just gave a barely perceptible nod, her eyes transfixed on the raging river below. Ben untied the rope from the hitch and threw it and can into the truck bed, not giving a damn about it. He just had to get her out of there, away from that horror and…well, there was really only one place to go.

Ben leapt into the driver’s seat and closed the door, thankful to be out of the rain, out of the river. The blasting heat felt good on his drenched body, and he took a minute to breathe, to just calm and breathe before he addressed the situation.

“Listen, hon,” he said, “bridges are out all over on account of the storm. You ought to be looked at by a doctor or hospital, but I can’t get you over there right now. But I can offer you my home until we can get you where you need to go. It’s warm and dry, and I promise I won’t try nothing fresh, Mama taught me better than that. I can get a nice fire going, warm you right up.”

Silence. No movement, just breathing and trembling. Then a nod and a whisper of, “Please.”

Ben nodded. “Alright then.” He turned the truck away from the river, glad to get that visual out of his sight, let alone hers.

It was a short ride home, barely enough time to warm anything. She didn’t speak, only shook her head at any question, but he at least got a name: Rey.

The tree-lined driveway welcomed him home, and he was glad none of them fell during the storm. He never would have been where he was at just the right time to save the poor woman. When he got out of the truck, his boots squished and sloshed inside. God, he couldn’t wait to get them off, as well as his sopping clothes, but first things first. He opened the passenger side door. “I know you ain’t got no shoes, and the gravel is rough, so let me carry you the rest of the way, okay?”

Her nod was a little stronger. He gathered her in his arms, and she felt like nothing as she clung to his neck. Upon the porch, he set her down to get the door open and held it for her.

Rey just stood there in a daze, and Ben was really starting to worry for her. “It’s alright, come on, it’s warm inside.”

She nodded but didn’t move except to tremble so violently her teeth chattered. Ben gently grasped her shoulders and led her indoors. In that moment, he really could have kicked himself for keeping the house so damn cool all the time. Sure, it was warmer than outside, but Rey just continued to shiver, tears sparkling from her lashes as she hugged herself.

Ben quickly stacked wood inside of the fireplace over a starter and set it alight. “Power’s out, phone lines too, but I got the big generator going for essentials. We can use the lights, but gonna mostly stick to lanterns, keep from taxing the generator too hard. Um, reckon most of what I got to wear will be gigantic on you, but I’ll find you something dry, promise. The shower’s down the hall—”

“N-n-no! No! No water—no!”

Ben sighed. “You sure, hon? That flood water ain’t no good—”

Rey let out a panicking set of cries to the point she seemed like she couldn’t catch her breath.

Ben put his hands up. “Okay, okay, I understand, sweetheart. You just stay there by the fire, it will be licking up soon, and I’ll find you something nice and dry. Just give me a moment.”

Rey nodded and whimpered.

Ben dashed to his bedroom and tore open his dresser. He grabbed a quick set of clothing for himself, planning to shower later once he got her settled but desperately needing to get out of his dripping clothes. For her, he pulled out a black, long-sleeved shirt and red sweatpants that were always a little too trim on his thick thighs. They had a drawstring that pulled pretty tight, and it would have to do.

He didn’t think he was gone long, but he returned to find her shaking and sobbing. “I can’t get warm!” She sucked in a breath. “I’m just so cold.”

Ben carried the clothing and towel toward her. “I know, sweetheart. Let me show you where the bathroom is. Once you get out of those wet clothes—”

“I don’t want to leave the fire!”

Ben swallowed. “Well alright, how bout you get changed right here, and I’ll use the bathroom and turn the heat up a bit. You let me know when you’re dressed, okay?”

Rey nodded, and he zipped out of the room. He tossed his drenched clothing into the clawfoot tub and ran a quick towel over his hair before she called him in again.

Ben found her wrapped up in every blanket on the couch, still shaking. “Um, would you like some tea or coffee? Warm milk? Think I might have some soup of you’re hungry—”

“I don’t want to be alone!” The desperation in her voice compelled him to want to do anything to help her, calm her.

“Well, okay, I—”

“Please sit with me. I’m so cold. I can’t get warm.” She opened her mouth to speak again and just froze as tears streamed down her cheeks. “I’m so scared. I don’t want to be alone.”

“Okay,” he whispered, drawing in slowly toward the couch. He wasn’t sure how comfortable he felt about all this. He was just a stranger to her, and she just went through probably the worst experience of her life. Now she was stuck having to rely on some man twice her size with no other recourse. He wanted to help her, and damn if she wasn’t a pretty little thing now that he got a good look at her, but he didn’t want to scare her either.

Gingerly he sat on the couch, and Rey not so gingerly scrambled toward him and into his arms, her head pressed against his chest. Wrapped in a bundle of blankets, she nuzzled into his embrace and just wept as if finally comfortable and free to do so.

With his free hand, he stroked her damp tresses while she heaved and wailed, the gravity of it all finally hitting her, he supposed. Before the roaring fire he simply held her, warming up himself. As their body heat melded with one another, her tears abated. She nestled into his embrace, quieting into comfort, and he in turn started to ease. He really wanted a shower, but she so desperately clung to him, and he didn’t want to leave her.

So he held her as the radiant heat from the fire permeated right to their very bones. Rey said nothing more, and in time her body grew heavy, deep breaths signaling that she had fallen asleep.

That sparked a certain sense of relief. The poor girl needed rest, to relax, and if he could give that to her, all the better.

Yeah, a shower, dinner, all things that would be wonderful right now, but he didn’t dare disturb her. Besides, it wasn’t every day a beautiful woman clung to his chest like this. And his house had been awfully lonely lately.

#

Ben sprung awake when Rey startled in his arms. She looked around in a panic, but upon seeing the fire, the room, then him, she settled back down.

“You alright there, hon?” he asked in his softest voice.

Her head nuzzled back onto his chest. “Little better. Just didn’t know where I was. I thought…where I…” She shook her head. “Just glad I’m here.”

“Can I get you something? Something to eat or drink?”

She didn’t answer, only nestled into the valley between his pecs. After a few minutes and some deep breaths, she sighed. “Maybe I’ll try that shower now. I’m sorry, about before, I was just panicking, I—”

“You don’t need to explain a thing to me. Come on, let me show you where everything is.”

While she showered, Ben dug into his deep freezer and found a container of soup he had made using his mother’s famous recipe. It always warmed right down to the bones. While that heated, he made a quick batch of noodles to go along with it. During this, all he could think of was her body pressed against his, the delicate curve of her cheeks, the soft way her eyes looked when she wasn’t in the throes of terror.

He could think all he wanted, but he’d keep his hands to himself. His mother may have called his father a scoundrel more than a few times, but she made sure she raised her son to be a gentleman. Maybe his teen years weren’t so great, getting caught up in drug peddling in Scranton. An enforcer in Snoke’s drug empire, Ben renamed himself “Kylo Ren” and did quite well for himself, until the law caught up to him. He almost thought he couldn’t go back home, that the gentleman his mother raised wound up being a scoundrel just like his father, and she wouldn’t want him anymore.

He couldn’t have been more wrong.

Leia Organa Solo’s past as a Manhattan Assistant District Attorney came in handy. Before her nerves went and she escaped to the Pocono Mountains region of Pennsylvania, she had been one of the toughest prosecutors that courtroom had seen in decades. Ben had thought the years as a farmer would have softened her, but when Ben was about to go down for more crimes than he committed, she stood beside him, got him a reduced sentence, and brought him back home, back to his roots and the dairy farm she had started with his cowboy father.

Ben Solo had been given a second chance to be the son she raised, and he wouldn’t ever go back and stain the memory of that beautiful woman.

Rey emerged some time later, her hair flattened in drying tresses once again, but her demeanor was far different. Pink cheeks spoke of the heat from her shower and warmed the freckles on her cheeks. She smiled softly and moved with tentative comfort.

For just a moment, Ben let himself dream of a future like this. God, he’d been so lonely. After Kaydel left him for New York City, he’d been so busy trying to keep his family farm alive with a few hired hands, there really was no time to go looking for someone new.

What if the will of fate had her come to him instead? Hell of a way to do it, if so. Poor Rey nearly died in the process.

Ben motioned toward a chair. “Hope you like chicken soup, just like my mama used to make. Got the stove going to keep you warm.” He motioned toward the pot belly woodstove, black and stout, its gut full of flaming orange.

Rey stepped toward it and rubbed her hands over the rising heat. A full smile finally warmed her doll-like face. “Your home is so charming.”

Ben grinned and looked around. “Dates back to the mid 1800s. Been around a long time.”

“I love it.” She rubbed her hands once more and settled into the chair. “Chicken soup is wonderful, thank you.”

“What can I get you to drink? Tea? Coffee? Can get you all the warm milk you’d ever need.” He chuckled.

“I’m good for now.” She took a spoon of the soup. “This is delicious, by the way.”

Ben blushed. “Thank you. I never strayed from her recipe. She always told me not to go sullying things that are working just fine on their own.” He smirked. “But I do add some fresh scallions in spring.”

She giggled and looked around. “Must be amazing.”

Ben wished she’d stick around to find out for herself. He settled down to his own bowl and tried not to stare at her. Even in the quiet as they focused on their meal, he couldn’t help but adore this feeling he got in her presence. It wasn’t just about not being alone for once. It was her. There was a soft, warm light that flowed from her, like sunshine on summer flowers.

But he had to break the silence. “Um, listen after I finish here, I gotta go take care of the girls and hop in the shower myself. Feel free to get comfy. Got lots of books you can read by the fire.”

Her face shifted, almost uncomfortable. “Your daughters?”

“What? No, talking bout my cows and hens. Told you I can get you all the milk you could ever want.”

Rey softened and chuckled. “I’m sorry, I just…I threw myself into your arms and never once asked if you were married or anything. It was rude of me—”

“Hon, you were in a state of panic, don’t you worry none.” He smiled. “I would have said something.” He sighed. “Nope, just me and the furry and feathered here.”

Her smile was broad and genuine again, and it struck him as so charming he missed his mouth and spilled soup down the front of his shirt. “Oh good Lord, look at me here.” She answered with a giggle. “I can jump into a raging river to save a lovely young woman, but I can’t get a damn spoon in my mouth.”

Rey laughed, but it faded into tension, and she hung her head for a few moments. Now why did his dumbass have to bring up the flood? _Your mouth goes running before your head, just like your father_ , Mama used to tell him when his snark would get him in trouble.

Her eyes finally lifted back up to his. “Thank you, Ben. For everything. I don’t…I never would have…I can’t even…” She plastered her hand to her face, her shoulders shaking.

“Hey.” Ben stood, stepped over to her, and laid the gentlest hand upon her back. “Hey hey hey, don’t think about that now. Don’t worry about that. You’re safe now, that’s all that matters.”

Rey sniffled. “You risked everything for me.”

Ben grinned. “I’m a Solo. We ride hard, no matter the situation, even right into the middle of a raging river. Wouldn’t do it any other way.”

She smiled amidst her tears and wrapped her arms around his waist, burying her face in his stomach. He gently stroked her hair, hoping he wasn’t being too forward but just feeling right to do so. She smelled of his shampoo and soap, and somehow that struck him with a sense of delight, like she was a part of his life now.

Well, didn’t hurt to dream, right?

After tending to his barn, Ben finally wound up in that shower he’d been aching for since returning from that fateful drive. He scrubbed himself more than he ever had, partly from knowing what was in those flood waters, but partly preening for a woman he didn’t need to be harassing with his ardor. Like he was fifteen once again about to go on a date, only this was no date, and he had no business making her uncomfortable when she had nowhere else to go.

And in his rush to get clean, he forgot a fresh shirt.

It would be easy to bypass the living room and slip into the bedroom without her seeing him, so that was the plan. He threw on the rest of his clothes, brushed back his long, wet locks, and pulled opened the door to swiftly make a beeline for the bedroom.

Ben jolted as a body crashed into his, a face planting in his bare chest. He looked down with his mouth hanging open, not having expected Rey to be right there.

Her eyes flicked from his broad chest, up to his face, down and back again.

His mouth had a hard time working, but he got it going with a few pulls of the starter. “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know you’d be right here.”

Her eyes didn’t leave his chest. “I couldn’t take being alone anymore. I just…felt better knowing you were on the other side of the door.”

Ben nodded. “Okay. That’s okay. I’m…I’m just gonna go ahead and grab a shirt.”

Rey swallowed. “Sure, go right ahead.”

They passed the rest of the evening on the couch. Deciding that taxing the generator a little was worth her relaxation, he turned on the TV. Luckily he had satellite, no downed lines to worry about, and they put on some mindless garbage that kept their attention until their eyelids started getting heavy. She still remained curled up at his side, and he thought it strange now that she wasn’t as shell-shocked as before, but he wasn’t about to complain. For a few moments in his lonely life, he wanted to pretend this was his daily existence.

When sleep would be held off no longer, Ben showed Rey his room, kicking himself for having converted his childhood bedroom into a storage space. “Bed’s all yours. I’ll take the couch, it won’t be a problem.”

Rey shook her head. “That couch is too small for you.”

“Nah, don’t worry none about it, I’ll be fine. Get some rest, you need it.”

She nodded, thanking him again, and he watched as she crawled under the covers before he shut the door.

Ben sat before the dying fire, trying not to think of Rey and how she felt in his arms all day. Even with the afternoon nap, fatigue lay heavy on him and he was out before those thoughts got the better of him.

“Ben?” It was a shaking, soft voice.

He sprung up on the couch, a little disoriented until he remembered where he was and why. “Rey? What’s wrong, hon?”

She sucked in a panicky breath. “I can’t be alone. I don’t want to be alone.”

Ben opened his arms as he sat up, not fully thinking it through as he was half out of it. “You wanna sit with me some more?”

Rey shook her head. “Lay with me, in the bedroom.”

That woke him up. “Huh?”

“Please just lay next to me.”

His mouth took a few starts to work again. “Rey…I don’t want to do nothing disrespectful towards you. I don’t know if this is such a good idea.”

“It’s only disrespectful if I don’t want it. But I do. Please. We don’t have to…I’m not saying…I just…” She let out a harsh breath like she’d start sobbing any moment. “Please just hold me tonight. I can’t sleep…I can’t sleep on my own, not after…”

Ben leaned forward. “Are you sure this is what you want? I won’t try nothing, but I don’t want to make you uncomfortable neither.”

Rey just nodded vehemently. “Yes. Please.”

Ben stood, towering over her, but instead of looking intimidated, she calmed. With the softest hands on her shoulders, he led her into the bedroom.

He tried to keep his breathing even and steady as he lay down on his side, facing her. She slid in beside him, pulled up the blankets, and curled right into his chest.

This felt…entirely too good.

Taking a chance, a perilous chance (the kind of thing his father, Han, made famous,) he wrapped his arm over her body, pulling her close and protecting her from whatever demons kept haunting her.

She didn’t fight or pull away, just nuzzled in closer, remaining quiet. After a few minutes, she blurted out, “I’m not stupid.”

Ben immediately withdrew his arm, but she grabbed it. “No, no, not that, I didn’t mean—that had nothing to do with you. You can…you can keep holding me.”

He returned his arm but wondered where she was going with this. “What’s on your mind?”

She sighed. “I’m not one of those people who just thinks they can cross through water and nothing will happen. That’s not what happened. That’s not how that all happened!”

“Okay, it’s okay. I’m not judging you. I never did, not even once.”

After a breath, her shaking voice returned. “I came out here from New Jersey, all the way from the other end in Hoboken, to get away from it all. I was sick of the city, sick of working in Manhattan, sick of the traffic, the foul air, the crowding, my stupid apartment, everything I thought I was supposed to want. It’s all just been a chain keeping me somewhere I’ve never been happy.”

“Okay.”

“So I rented a cabin, long in advance. Been waiting to go for ages. Nothing was going to stop me from going. I was so dead set, I ignored all that hurricane shit. Besides, it was going to scrape the coast, back where I was anyway. I was better off heading out west.

“And the cabin was perfect. It was quiet, away from everything, right by a river that was so clear and beautiful. I even left my car up a little higher because I didn’t want to see it. I just wanted cabin, woods, river, fresh air, quiet. Just…serenity.”

“That’s a fine thing to want.” It made him think of his mother when she talked about how her nerves went, how she headed out to the mountains and fell in love with it, never wanting to return to the city.

“And I stupidly even shut my phone off for days, stuffed it in my car. I didn’t want _anything_ of modern day getting in my way. I had food, a stocked cabin with everything I needed, and I just wanted to rest and meditate and read and just…unwind. Breathe.”

She swallowed. “So I never learned the storm had veered to the west. Never knew it came up so high, and so strong. I heard the rain and the wind. Trees started coming down, but the cabin was far enough that I knew nothing would fall on it. Figured nothing would be so bad. What the hell did I know? I never lived near rivers like that, didn’t know how bad it could get. Worst we got was Superstorm Sandy, but that was ocean flooding. It wasn’t because of rain.” Her voice lowered and shook. “What the hell did I know?”

“It’s okay,” Ben whispered. “We can’t know all that’s gonna happen to us.”

“I tried to sleep off the rainstorm, figured getting rest would be the best way to pass the time. And when I woke.” She sucked in a gasp, her body trembling. “I sat up in bed and stepped right into water. The cabin, it was flooding. I sloshed to the window and just…panicked! It was everywhere! It was like being in the middle of a lake. I was so scared!”

Her heaving breaths made her body just writhe in his arms, so he held her even closer.

“I grabbed whatever I could, just the essentials, and tried to remember the path back up to the car, so I didn’t fall into anything deeper, you know? It was up to my thighs by then, and it was just shoving at me. Oh God, I was so scared! But I managed up the hill to the car that was still on dry land. What I didn’t know was that the river had branched, taken a path on the other side of the road where my car was. So I sped off, hoping to get out of there, and just found downed tree after downed tree until I saw where the other branch of water met the river—my only way out.”

“Oh my lord.” Ben nestled his chin over her head.

“I didn’t know what to do, where to go. I tried to turn around, but this…oh god…It was like a wave, like a wave coming in, and I couldn’t go anywhere or do anything. I just froze. I panicked, and it hit the car and just carried me down. I kept the windows closed, hoping it would keep me floating a little until I could find a place to get out, but the water started filling in at the bottom, and then it got caught in those trees. I knew I was doomed. Oh God!” She cried out and buried her tears in his chest.

“It’s okay,” he whispered, rubbing her back. “You made it out. It’s all okay now.”

“Only because of you,” she whispered back through the sobs. “I’m only alive because of you. I never would have…never…”

“Shhhhh…” He breathed into her hair and gently stroked that shaking, lovely back of hers. “It’s okay, hon. I was glad to be there in that moment for you.”

“You’re my hero. In every damn way possible, you’re my hero.” Her arms slipped around his chest, and he melted in her embrace, trying not to read too much into it or enjoy it too deeply. She was still in shock and aching for a life raft (or an empty gas can) in a storm, and he had to keep his feelings to himself, not get too caught up in them.

“Aw hon, I’m just a man who had a rope and a crazy father who passed on his genes.”

“Well, you were everything to me. Everything.” When she quieted her tears, she continued. “Every time I’m alone right now, I keep thinking of how I felt in that cabin. The panic just keeps coming back. When you’re close to me, I feel so much stronger, like nothing can hurt me. You were there when I needed someone the most, and I still do, I still need you.”

“I’m here,” he breathed into her hair. “I’m here for you. Whatever you need.”

“Right now? I just need you.”

Those were the last words she said for the night, but they would linger in his heart well until morning.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey learns a little about Ben's world and the people in it. The scene of the rescue is revisited.

It had been a long time since Ben woke with a woman in his arms, and only now did he realize how much he missed it. Rey’s face was pure peace, her brown hair scattered across the pillow, her body fitting against him in perfection.

If he was any other man, he’d lay like this forever just to bask in her presence. But Sky Walker Dairy Farm didn’t run itself, and there were other girls waiting for his attention.

He slipped out with the utmost of care not to disturb her. After a quick buttered muffin and cup of coffee, he set to the morning tasks in the barn. The cows had calmed since the day before, and the chickens were venturing out in their enclosed pasture area. He wanted to let the cows out too, but he had to do a perimeter check of the fence.

Ben hoisted a tied stack of hay and jumped at the silhouette in the doorway. He’d gotten so used to doing things alone, he didn’t expect his guest to show up. “Morning!” he called.

“Morning,” Rey said with a smile. She lifted one leg to show off the astronomically big boot laced upon it. “I hope you don’t mind I borrowed these. Wanted to see where you were.”

Well that just warmed his soul. “Just the usual morning at the Sky Walker Farm. Now how are you even walking in those things?”

Rey lifted her knees and stomped in. “Not easily, that’s for sure, but they’ll do for now.” She rubbed her arms. “Sorry, got kind of…quiet in there.”

“No need to apologize. Just gotta finish up here, and I’ll bring in some eggs for breakfast.”

She shrugged, eyes focused on the ground. “You really don’t have to go through the trouble.”

“Ain’t no trouble. Gotta take care of myself anyway, what’s one more dish? Besides, the girls have been busy.” He showed her the crate of eggs.

Her smile lit up the morning. “I love it. Okay, sure if you don’t mind.”

“Course I don’t mind. Just give me a few minutes, okay?”

She knelt, twiddling her fingers for the cat. Surprisingly, his resident barn mouser ran right up to her. “Awww, she’s so cute! What’s her name?”

“That there’s Beebee, eighth one of her litter, if you can believe it. She keeps all the vermin out of the barn.”

“She’s just like a little Creamsicle with her orange and white. I love cats, dogs too.”

“Used to have a dog. Been kind of lonely without old Dio.” Been lonely in general. “Just haven’t gotten around to getting a new one.”

Rey stood with her hands in the oversized sweatpants pockets. “Big place like this needs a good dog. Would love to live on a farm like this with a big slobbering pooch.”

Ben would do anything to make that happen. “It’s a good life. Hard work, but rewarding.” He wondered what life was like for her in Hoboken. “Listen, after breakfast, I got to bring old Whisper out to help me check this fence before I let the girls out—”

“Whisper?”

“Yeah, my big ole stallion. Needed to get a big guy for my big self.”

She chuckled and sighed with a smile. “You even have a horse.”

“Oh yeah. Two actually, Threepio’s a bit smaller. Come, let me show you.”

Rey clopped along to the far end of the barn. There he showed her Whisper in his magnificent black and golden Threepio with the pale mane. She took a fascination to him, and Ben didn’t want to mention that had been Kaydel’s horse. He didn’t have the heart to sell Threepio, despite the pain he felt every time he saw the golden stallion.

There was no pain now.

Ben tossed some hay into Whisper’s stall. “My father was a big horseman. Taught me everything I know about riding. Was big in the rodeo circuit when he was younger, you ever hear of him? Han Solo?”

Rey sunk into her shoulders. “Sorry.”

“Bit of a country thing, I suppose. He and his best friend Chewy were big in their day. And when he wasn’t falling off a horse, he was riding his favorite, fast boy named Falcon. Man, that horse could jump. All that country bravado swept my mother off her feet.”

“She a country girl, too?”

Ben laughed. “Oh no, not at first. Manhattan Assistant District Attorney. She went from Prada to clodhoppers when she came out here.”

“Because she fell in love with your dad?”

“Because she fell in love with the land and had enough of the city life. That’s when she found Dad, and they started this farm, long before I came along, anyway. They had me a bit late in life. Dad passed away eight years ago, Mama only three.”

“Oh, I’m so sorry.”

“Thanks, hon.” He sighed. “House gets quiet, you know? They were all I had for a long time. My mama hoped she could leave me in good hands with my girlfriend at the time, but only a year later she left me, headed out to the city, wanted more than I could ever give her.”

Rey shook her head and whispered something that sound like idiot, but he reckoned it wasn’t meant for his ears and left it alone. Strange, as a city girl herself, he figured she’d understand the draw.

“Anyway,” Ben said, tossing another stack to Threepio, “after I check the fence, then I gotta ride out and check on the neighbors, make my usual stops—”

“Can I come? For all of it?”

“All of it?”

“The fence? The drive? I…I can’t stay alone right now. I’m sorry, I just can’t.”

Ben nodded toward Threepio. “You ride?”

Rey shrugged. “Couple times. I don’t know if I’m any good at it. Would love to be though.” 

Ben smiled. “Well, how bout I get Threepio here saddled up. I’m sure he’d love a rider meant more for his size. He don’t like it much when I take him out.”

Rey gave him the shyest chuckle. “This is…one of the things I came out here to do, just not in the way I expected. Nothing…not a damn thing’s gone the way I expected, that’s for sure.”

Ben could say the same thing, only the horror that was the day before turned into something else, something special, even if it was possibly one-sided.

#

“You are kidding me!”

Ben grinned as Rey eyed the spread on the table. “All homemade. The cheese is something I just started this year. Sells well at the farmer’s market. Butter goes fast too.”

She spread the fluffy yellow butter onto her piece of bread and took a bite. Her eyes closed and her moan gave him a special little jolt he’d keep all to himself. “This is _divine_. It almost tastes like cheese. It’s _so_ good!”

“Happy cows make the best milk.” He dipped his bread into his eggs.

Rey just shook her head, marveling over it all. “This is all you, just…providing for yourself, enjoying this richness. Half the time I run out the door with a protein bar in my mouth and don’t eat until lunch, assuming I even have time to take one. Everything here is just so…soft and well-paced.”

Ben nodded. “The land has a rhythm of its own. My mama always told me how being up here made her feel, even when she just visited before she bought the farm. Some cases would get so hard, and when it was over, she’d come up here and just feel alive.”

Rey nodded. “I believe it.”

He took another bite. “In all fairness, this isn’t all my doing. I didn’t make the bread.”

“Well, everyone needs a store eventually, though this is magnificent for store-bought.”

Ben smiled. “Not store-bought. You’ll see when we head out later.”

Rey was nervous getting on Threepio for the first time, but she eased in well. Threepio was a good horse, mellow and gentle. Whisper on the other hand still needed a firm wrangler but was always an exhilarating ride. However, for this venture, he kept Whisper steady to lead Threepio out into the fields.

And Rey? She was nothing but smiles as they trotted through the cool, humid air. The sun just started breaking through, and she gasped when she saw the mountains in the distance, still covered in clouds. He swore he saw her eyes tearing, but it could have just been the wind causing it.

Ben was glad he went out. There was a section of fence taken out by a tree. Rey did her best to help, dragging branches he cut, holding tools for him so he could get the section quickly repaired.

Damn, he missed having someone else out there with him. Hired hands were good for working, but nothing beat having someone out there because they wanted to be with you.

With that complete and the horses and cows out to pasture, Ben packed the truck with his usual goods as well as his big chainsaw and some other tools. Half the roads were blocked the day before, and someone had to get to it. Pennsylvania Department of Transportation (PENNDOT) and the public works crews were usually sent to the more populated areas first. Out in the country, they had to take care of their own or wait.

It wasn’t long before they came across their first downed tree blocking the road. Ben hopped out and sliced through the trunk like it was nothing, loving that new chainsaw he treated himself to last Christmas. Once it was in manageable chunks, he set the chainsaw aside and upon returning, found Rey rolling the smaller logs to the side of the road.

“Oh sweetheart, you don’t need to be doing that. I got it.”

Rey was nothing but smiles, and damn, he loved seeing her like that. “I don’t mind helping.”

“I don’t want you to exert yourself after all you been through. Besides, I’m made for this hard work.”

She gave him a defiant, insistent little grin. “I’m a lot stronger than I look, and I don’t sit around when I’m capable of lending a hand. So I’m doing this, Ben Solo, and you’re just going to have to deal with it.”

Ben sighed with a smile. He clearly wasn’t winning this standoff. He hoisted himself onto the truck bed, dug in his storage box, and pulled out a pair of gloves. “Here, hon.” He hopped off. “Reckon I won’t convince you to just sit and relax, but at least don’t mess up those nice smooth hands of yours.”

He laid them in her open palms and didn’t mean to touch her skin, but when he did, he realized he was right in predicting how soft and smooth they were. She didn’t need to be marring up those beauties.

“Thank you,” she said, and her eyes lingered on him in a way he didn’t want to read too much into.

Clearing the road went a lot quicker with two sets of hands, and what they could lift filled the truck with firewood.

On the way, they cleared one more smaller tree, then turned into a long driveway. A big sucker blocked that path, and Ben knew he didn’t need permission to get in there and start cutting even if it was private property. With Rey’s help, they restored the passage in no time and hopped back into the truck.

“This here’s Finn and Poe’s farm. They’re a bit new, not old school like a lot of us around here. Do a lot of greenhouse and hydroponic growing, artisanal and specialty heirloom vegetables you can’t get anywhere else. But best of all?” He hopped out of the truck and helped her down. “Take a deep breath.”

She obliged and smiled. “It smells wonderful out here.”

He smirked. “Now you know where I get my bread from.”

“Ben!” a man cried from the porch, arms wide open. He had an easy smile and thick black curls.

Ben waved Rey onward and trudged up the porch for a hug. “Cleared that tree from your drive.”

The man smiled. “And that’s why I love you. And who’s this?”

“This is Rey Johnson. She ah…got a little caught up in the storm and needed somewhere to go, so until the phone or cell lines come back or we figure out how to get out of town with the bridges out, she’s staying with me. Rey, this is Poe Dameron.”

Poe grabbed both of her hands in a handshake. “So nice to meet you, Rey. Come in, come in. Goodness, look at those boots! How are you even walking in them?”

Rey kept her sweet smile. “Not easily, but making do. I lost my shoes in the storm.”

“Oh you poor thing, how?”

“Long story,” Ben said, feeling protective over her state of mind. He hauled a crate out of the truck. “She had to borrow mine.”

“What are they, twice your size? Honey, take those off, let me get you something a little closer to your size.” He looked up at Ben. “You got my stash?”

“Yeah, I got your stash,” Ben said in a near groan. “Eggs, butter, milk—”

“Tell me you brought that cheese.”

“ _Yes_ , I would never forget your favorite cheese.”

“And that’s why I love you!”

A head popped out of the doorway. “Who do you love now?”

Poe smiled at him. “You forever, but if you leave me, I’m marrying Ben.”

Ben handed the crate off to Poe. “You assume.”

Poe ushered them into the house. “Oh you need someone to take care of you.” His eyes flashed to Rey, then to Ben, and Ben had to signal to not press further.

“I’m Finn,” the other man said with his dark hand out to Rey. “Forgive my husband. He thinks he’s God’s gift to men everywhere.”

Poe dug through a closet. “I don’t recall forcing you to marry me.” He pulled out a set of boots. “And let’s be honest, none of you can resist this hair or my winning smile.” He flashed it and pointed to his mouth to show Rey.

She giggled and Ben’s heart skipped. It was like she fit right into everything.

“Here,” Poe said, handing her the shoes. “They were always a little tight on me anyway, so maybe they’ll fit you a little better than those clown shoes.”

Ben huffed. “I’m not bringing you cheese next time.”

“Giant shoes good for giant men, not so good for delicate little flowers like this one here.”

Rey chuckled. “I’m not so delicate.” She slipped on the boots and tied them tight. “Still a bit big, but at least I can walk now. Nothing an extra pair of socks can’t handle.”

“Perfect! Walk yourself into the kitchen. We went nuts yesterday, so bored stuck inside and went hog wild baking. Where’s my butter?”

“Crate,” Ben groaned as he sat down.

Poe cut a few slices of fresh bread, slapped butter on it, and handed it to them. “Tell me this isn’t the best rye you’ve ever tasted in your life.”

Rey bit into it and moaned, again striking a little surge in Ben’s long neglected body. “It’s perfect!”

“ _Thank_ you,” Finn said, snagging Poe’s piece. “I’m the one that perfected the recipe, and this one takes all the credit.”

Ben sat up and cleared his throat. “Listen, we can’t be staying—”

“Lies!” Poe called with an accusing finger.

“We’re still trying to see if there’s any way out of town, to the stores, anything. I still think Rey should be checked out by a doctor, but I’m not sure if we can even get to Phasma right now. You hear from Hux?”

Finn shook his head. “Our lines haven’t come back up, cell still out. Surprised you can’t hear him hooting and hollering all the way to your house.”

“River took out his storage shed yesterday.”

Poe finally lost that continual jovial manner. “Oh my god, it got that high? Are you kidding me?”

“Bridge to his place is out, I—” He caught the look on Rey’s face and didn’t dare continue. “Not…something we ought to be talking about. I just want to check on things and see if we can get over there, see if he’s okay. Every bridge was out yesterday, I don’t know if it’s possible. Besides, I want to get Rey back soon as I can. She had a rough day yesterday and I don’t want to bring it up—”

“You saved my life.”

It was a statement that lay heavy in the air. Finn and Poe were both staring at her and only briefly glancing at Ben.

He touched her arm. “Rey, we don’t need to talk about it. You ought to relax—”

She turned and looked him straight in the eyes, her hazel jewels unflinching and direct. “You saved my life. You jumped in and saved my life.”

Ben just breathed, as did the other two men. He wasn’t sure what to say, and then, “And I’d do it again in a heartbeat.”

In his peripherals, he could see Poe grasp Finn’s hand.

Tears filled Rey’s eyes, and she tipped her head down to brush them away. Ben kept a respectable distance but rubbed her back.

It was Poe who broke the silence. “Honey, did you get caught in that flood?”

“Car and everything,” she whispered. “Sucked the shoes right off my feet. If he hadn’t come, exactly when he did. He just…he just ran and jumped in. And he pulled me out.”

Finn smirked. “Ridin’ Solo, eh? Just like the old man?”

Poe gave a quick huff of a laugh. “From the stories he tells, Han would jump into a flood for fun just to see what would happen.”

Ben smirked. “Yeah, well I got my mama’s good sense and only leap into the unknown when I got a good damn reason.” He looked at Rey and couldn’t stop what came next. “Here’s the best reason I know.”

Rey turned to him, and in that moment he could have kicked himself. He probably made her uncomfortable. Last thing she needed was some giant creepy guy lurking around the only home she had for the time being.

To his surprise, she smiled. And broke into tears. Then her arms were out, begging for him.

And he obliged.

There she was, in his chest again, crying and holding so tightly to him. And he just held her, rocking her gently, whispering, “It’s okay,” into her hair.

Poe broke the moment by slapping the table. “Well then we need to celebrate the fact that you could be with us today. We baked like four different cakes and I’ve got wine.”

Ben scoffed. “It’s early in the afternoon, the hell you doing with wine?”

“Drinking it, dummy. Rey? Can I offer you some?”

She broke from Ben’s hug and nodded. “I think I need it.”

A quick visit turned into lunch, though Ben didn’t imbibe in the alcohol. There was still too much work to do, and he was driving precious cargo. Finn gave Rey a tour of the greenhouse and hydroponics setup while Poe grilled Ben about his potential wedding plans. Ben shooed him away. The last thing he needed was to take advantage of the poor girl who had gone through hell and lost everything. Sure he enjoyed her company, her touch, her scent, the curve of her face, the summer wind smile, that special look she would get when he showed her things on his farm—what was that look? Contentment, yes, that beautiful soft contentment, and if he could give her that even for a little while, he could die a happy man.

He only hoped he didn’t die a lonely one, but he was not about to push her in any direction despite Poe’s perpetually bad advice.

Poe and Finn sent them back with two loaves of bread, a cake, three acorn squashes, a basket of apples, carrots, potatoes, onions, and a sack of hydroponically grown greens. Rey was overjoyed and couldn’t thank them enough for their hospitality.

“It’s incredible,” she said on the ride. “You just bring over your milk and butter and eggs, and they send you back with their products. And you got them out of their driveway. And Poe just…gave me boots! Out of nowhere, not even a question. Just here, take these. You all take care of each other out here.”

“Of course,” he said, his eyes on the road but his heart reaching for hers. “It’s what we do. Most of us are self sufficient in our own ways, but we still rely on one another.”

She sighed as she looked out the window. “A real community.”

Ben smiled. “Suppose so.”

She flashed him a scrunchy-nosed smile. “What was that Ridin’ Solo thing?”

Ben couldn’t help but laugh. “Oh, that’s my dad through and through. That was his stage name in the rodeo circuit, so damn full of himself he was. But say what you want, he was a survivor. He’d get himself into all kinds of jams, but he’d get himself out, too. Never saw a challenge he didn’t like, or a stunt, or a risk. He’d actually scream it, ‘Ridin’ Solo!’ as he did whatever nonsense he did.” He couldn’t stop his giggles. “Then he sees he caught the eye of my mama, and he says to her, ‘Hey there pretty lady, bet you wanna be Ridin’ Solo tonight.’”

Rey’s jaw dropped, and her smile of shock was so precious. “What did she _do_?”

“Oh she slapped him good, then turned and kissed his best friend Chewy just to piss him off. Dad said that was the moment he knew he was in love. He didn’t stop chasing after his princess as he called her from then on until she finally couldn’t resist him any longer. She said she had to show him she wasn’t no trick in the night, he had to work for her hand, and hoooo boy did he.”

Rey sat back and seemed so content. “That’s adorable.”

 _You’re adorable_ , he wanted to say, because it was the truth. “Well, any time anyone says something about Ridin’ Solo, they’re talking about my dad doing all his crazy stunts and antics. Oh, we need to stop over here, too. Mrs. Holdo’s all alone and I want to check on her.”

Ben had to clear a few thick branches out of her driveway, and when finished, he grabbed another crate from the back of the truck to carry to the house. Amilyn waited at the doorway, her gray hair looking almost purple in the right light. “How you doing, Mrs. Holdo?”

The elder woman put her hands on her hips. “When are you going to call me Amilyn like I ask?”

“When I’m older than you are.”

She laughed and waved him off. “Always the gentleman your mama raised. And who do we have here?”

“This is Rey. She got caught up in the storm and has got nowhere to stay, what with the roads all a mess and the bridges out, so she’s staying by me.”

“Goodness, honey, well come on in and tell me all about it.”

Ben had to say about Amilyn, she always took everyone in and made them feel at home in a way he’d only seen his mother do in the past. As he unpacked her eggs, butter, and milk he’d prepared for her, Rey sat and just let it all out, shedding more than a few tears, but Amilyn had a way about her that was nothing but perpetual comfort. Ben didn’t feel the need to rush over and protect Rey from getting upset.

Amilyn served tea and shortbread cookies, and after a quiet, rather private conversation with Rey, she ran off into another room. Ben sat next to Rey and took a sip of his tea. “You alright, hon? Know it’s hard for you to talk about what happened.”

Rey nodded. “I’m fine. She’s really sweet.”

“She’s the best. Her and my mama were best friends and so much alike. Sometimes I come here just to…remember, I guess. Feel a little closer to a world long gone by.”

Rey gave him a sweetly sympathetic smile and laid her hand upon his knee. Oh did he have to rein in that sweet surge of delight at her touch. He didn’t want to let on just how much her presence made him feel so damn good.

Amilyn returned with a bag she handed to Rey and sat with them for a good hour, keeping Rey talking. It was perfect, really. Amilyn knew how to engage people in conversation, just like his mother, and he learned so much more about Rey than he could have on his own, feeling so damn awkward.

When he finally insisted they had to leave, Amilyn started filling his crate with jars. “Rey, if you look outside you’ll see all those purple canes out there. Those are my prized black raspberry bushes. You take this jam and enjoy it, make you think about summer and all the bright things, not this cold, stormy mess.”

“Oh, thank you so much, Amilyn.”

“Got all kinds of preserves, more than I could ever eat for myself, so you enjoy. Oh, and have a jar of my special recipe tomato sauce. It will make for a wonderful dinner one of these nights.” She gave a soft smile under sly eyes. “You remember what I said.” A wink Ben didn’t understand.

Rey blushed. “I will. Thank you again.”

#

In the car, Rey sorted through the bag. “Amilyn’s so sweet. We’re not exactly the same size, but she gave me some pants and shirts, few other things to tide me over. Any cell service working yet?”

He pulled his phone out of his pocket. “Not last I checked, but you’re welcome to.” He extended it to her, so she knew he wasn’t lying or trying to keep her longer than he ought.

Rey checked it and sighed. “I need to at least call my job. I’m supposed to be back in two days, not sure if that’s going to happen.”

Two days? For his sake, he hoped not. “Promise soon as I get anything, you can use my phone any way you like.” He stopped the truck at one of the bridges that went over the river. Still out, not even taped off. It wasn’t looking too good for her getting out in two days, especially not if they had to cut a tree on every road.

Ben turned the truck around and sighed. “Um, listen hon, I need to check on one more friend of mine, only I can’t seem to get to him. He lives on the other side of the river.”

“Oh, yeah, that seems to be a problem around here.”

“Yeah, we’re practically an island in the middle of nothing but rivers and creeks. Anyway, thing is, Hux lives right across from where…well, where I found you. I need to stop by that bridge, but listen, I can park way back so you don’t have to look at it and I’ll walk—”

“Just pull up. I…I want to see it.”

Ben sighed. “Hon, maybe it ain’t such a good idea—”

“I want to. I…I feel like I need to.”

He swallowed and nodded. “Okay then. And uh, listen, Hux is a little…interesting.”

Rey chuckled. “Okay.”

“He’s good folk, just…well, you’ll see.”

It was eerie looking at the bridge again, or what was left of it. The water drained down to a quarter of what it had been the day before, the skeleton of the bridge reaching a claw over the canyon cut by the rushing water.

Ben almost couldn’t believe he had jumped right into that hell, couldn’t believe he caught Rey in time before she got sucked down with the current.

He’d heard so many stories in his time, of currents pinning people under water, caught in submerged trees or debris. That this beautiful woman he’d grown rather fond of could have met her end if he hadn’t shown up…

Ben turned to Rey. “You sure you want to come out and look?”

Her eyes were straight ahead, locked on the remains of the bridge. “Yes.”

It was so robotic he considered turning the truck around immediately. But she already had the door open, determined.

Rey walked ahead with her arms wrapped around herself, his giant flannel shirt sleeves hanging off the ends of her hands. It only took a few paces to catch up, and he stayed close beside her as the aftermath came into view.

She stopped twenty feet from the jagged bite taken out of the asphalt at the edge of the abyss. Ben took the moment to ascertain what he could about Hux’s property. He really wished he could call his old friend. Just about three boards of the shed still stood, and a good chunk of that property was eaten away.

Rey, shivering, took a few steps closer to the edge, and Ben stayed right at her arm, for support and for safety. The edges of flood cuts could easily collapse.

Her eyes trailed toward where she had initially washed up. Only one tree was left from a now shrunken island that once held about twelve, and that was bent over so badly it was doubtful the poor thing would survive.

“That’s where I saw you,” he said. “I heard your cries and saw you clinging there for dear life.”

She said nothing, but her breaths shuddered on intake. Her eyes then went toward what was left of the bridge. “That’s where you jumped. I only caught a glimpse before I went under. I heard you tell me to hold on, then the current took my car and I was just holding on for dear life, and when it finally ripped me away, I just saw you flying through the air like an angel.”

He gave the softest chuckle. “I’m no angel.”

Rey rubbed her arms. “You were to me.” Her gaze tipped down and to the right, and that’s where she froze.

Ben licked his lips. Jutting out from the mud in a tangle of concrete and tree branches was the back end of a silver hatchback, only half of a New Jersey license plate showing through the muck.

Her chest rose and fell, rose and fell again, and then her shriek cut through the landscape. Over and over she just sucked in a breath and screamed, hunching, stumbling backwards, until he caught her in his arms and whisked her so she couldn’t see it anymore.

It wasn’t the car itself. It was the implication.

That could have been her grave. In a week or two they’d be towing that car out of the river and find her body inside. This beautiful, sweet, sunshine of a woman could have been buried there in a maelstrom of utter hell, and if not there then somewhere downstream.

That sheer thought, that this world would have lost this beautiful woman had he not been there at just the right moment, brought tears to his eyes. And so he held her tighter while she sobbed into his chest once again, and he pressed his mouth against her head, burying himself in her hair, and thanking everything in the universe for prompting him to head out that day.

He didn’t feel like a hero. He was just glad she got to live, that the world would continue to have this jewel walk upon it.

“HEYY!” came a familiar howl across the ravine. “That you screaming like a girl, Solo?”

Ben rolled his eyes. “No, you moron! I got someone with me.”

“Well holy hell, thought someone was about to die out here with them shrieks.”

Of all his choices of words. “Damnit Hux, lay off, will ya?” He tipped his head down to Rey. “Why don’t you head to the truck, okay? I just want to talk to him a minute.”

“I’m okay,” she whispered.

“Sweetheart, don’t stay here. Don’t look at this. It will only hurt you.”

Rey shook her head and shoved the tears off her face. “I’m okay. I will be. It just hit me, that’s all.”

Hux’s voice called over again. “Who you got with you? She don’t look familiar.”

“She’s not,” Ben said with a sigh. “This is Rey, she’s not from around here.”

“Whewww, where’d you go and pick up a tourist? Pretty one at that?”

Ben snarled. “Hux—”

“He saved me,” Rey said. “He saved me life. I was…here. He saved me here.” She swallowed and licked her lips as she pointed into the ravine. “That’s my car.”

Hux’s jaw dropped. “Well ho-ly shit. You Ridin’ Solo like some kinda hero now?”

Ben was already tired of this conversation. “How you guys make out over there? Saw your shed got washed, lose anything? Lose any head?”

Hux dug his fingers into his red hair and scratched. “Some equipment. Grandaddy’s old tractor was in there, ain’t no more. Got the herd all in the barn when things got high, but one old boy didn’t want to move. By the time we got back, the shed was destroyed, and we ain’t found him nowhere. One of them dams upriver must have breached. Half of them were built in the 1800s, supposed to be redone, but you know the state got no time for us country folk out here.”

Rey held herself tighter. “That’s why it happened so fast. A wall…just this wall of water…”

Ben rubbed her shoulders. “You sure you don’t want to wait in the truck? We won’t be a few minutes more.”

“I don’t—”

“HI BEN!” Rose’s arms came waving as she jogged to the edge of the canyon, reflections in her black hair gleaming in the sun. “How’d you make out with this storm?”

Hux answered. “Made out alright, he picked himself a girl out of the river.”

Oh the last thing Ben needed was his asshole friend making Rey uncomfortable. “Would you knock it off?”

Rose just continued waving as if all this was normal. “Hi! I’m Rose!”

Rey forced a smile onto her pale face. “Rey.”

Hux said something to his wife, making her gasp as she turned back to Rey. “Oh my god, you got caught in this flood?! What happened?”

“Long story. I was upriver in a cabin. Couldn’t get away before the flood caught me on both sides. That’s…” She swallowed. “…actually my car down there.”

Rose looked down and thrust her hands to her mouth. “Oh my god! Well you’re not driving that back to Jersey.”

Ben rolled his eyes but Rey at least chuckled and said, “No, no I’m not. Unfortunately, everything I needed was in there. Wallet, phone, clothes, everything.”

“Oh God, that’s horrible!”

Hux climbed toward the edge. “Well the water’s down, we can just get what you need.”

Why was Hux always the village idiot? “Get away from there, you damn fool!” Ben called. “The earth could collapse out from under you!”

“Nah it won’t.” He turned and searched for footing as he made his way over the edge.

“Please, no!” Rey cried in a panicked voice that put Ben on high alert. “Don’t go down there! Please don’t go down there!”

“Little dirt ain’t hurt nobody.”

Ben rolled his eyes and stepped closer. “Hux, damnit, get your ass back up there! Even if you get down, how you gonna get out? And that water is still high, don’t go screwing around!”

“Armie!” Rose barked with the conviction of a drill sergeant. “You get your ass back up here RIGHT NOW!”

Hux braced himself, his arms still on the edge of the sod, feet pressed into muddy rocks. “The poor girl ain’t got nothing to her name now. Can at least get her phone and wallet. You know how hard it is to replace that stuff in there.”

“Dummy, what is she going to do with a wet muddy phone?!”

To Ben’s surprise, Rey burst into laughter and just couldn’t stop.

Ben fought his own grin, feeling good that she finally broke out of that tension. “Hux, you can’t dig through all that mud to find nothing anyway, if it’s still even in there. Come on, get on back up that hill before your wife puts a bullet in your ass.”

Rose shook her fist. “I’ll do it, too!”

To this Rey laughed even harder, needing to sit on the ground and bury it in her arms. At one point he didn’t know whether she was laughing or crying. Maybe it was a bit of both. Maybe she needed that catharsis.

“ARGH!” Hux hauled himself back up over the edge. “Y’all are a bunch of worrywarts.”

Rose smacked his arm once he finally got to her side, and that made Rey laugh even harder. Her face was so wet as she pushed tears aside, and still Ben couldn’t figure out whether it was solely laughter or if those were tears of release mixed in.

“Rey,” Rose called, “you staying at Ben’s place?”

“Yeah,” Rey said, standing and wiping her face.

Hux gave a thumbs-up to Ben which got a furious glare and shoving wave in response. Did his dumb friend not realize the last thing Rey needed to be was uncomfortable in a strange man’s home? Especially now that she was more rational than the day before?

“And you got nothing but his giant clothes?”

Rey flapped the arms of the flannel. “Mrs. Holdo gave me a few things, and Poe gave me his boots.”

Rose waved as if all conversation was to be halted immediately. “You just wait there. I’m gonna get you some stuff to tide you over. What size shoe are you?”

Rey shook her head, confused how this was going to work, but still answered. “Eight?”

“Perfect!”

Ben shook his head. “How in the world you gonna get it over to us? All the bridges are out or I’d be over on your side right now.”

Hux thrust his finger up. “I got it!”

Ben groaned. Whatever was about to happen, none of it could be good.

“Just you wait there! Rosie, come on, give me a hand.”

Rose shoved him as they walked back up the hill. “I told you I have to pack them stuff!”

“Then pack it and give me a hand…”

Ben turned to Rey, feeling like they should run away before something stupid happened. “We don’t have to stay.”

Rey wrapped her arms around herself again, that flannel shirt so big on her. “No, it’s fine. They’re so nice, I don’t want to leave them if they’re doing all this work for me.” Her cheeks warmed with rosy pink, which was so much better than the ashen look she held before. “Everyone’s just so nice out here.” She rubbed her arms.

“You cold?”

She shrugged. “Breeze just picked up a little. I’ll be fine.”

Of course she would, because he was going to make sure of it. He pulled off his denim coat and wrapped it around her shoulders.

Her eyes flashed up to him. “But what about you?”

What about him? Being in her presence kept him warm. “I’m just fine, hon.”

She didn’t protest, just sunk her arms into the entirely too big jacket and smiled the sweetest, warmest, most content smile that was so beautiful it couldn’t even be legal anymore.

He could hear his mother say, _Ben, there’s no statute to support that._ Leia Organa always was so darn practical and serious, probably why her marriage to an adrenaline addict wild cowboy eventually fell apart. She was tough and focused, but when she wasn’t working, she was the warmest and wisest person he’d ever known. Damn did he miss her, and cursed himself for the years he spent away from her thinking he couldn’t go home.

They wandered in a weird silence waiting for Hux and Rose. Rey went from the anxiety and horror of earlier into some sort of practical assessment, like an insurance adjuster.

Which prompted a question. “So, um, what kind of job is it you need to be getting back to?”

Rey turned to him and the look on her face was polite but almost as if she wished he hadn’t asked. “I’m a marketing manager at Rebel Resistance. Our headquarters is in Manhattan on 5th Avenue.”

That vaguely sounded familiar. “Rebel Resistance?”

“It’s a posh clothing and accessory line, big with celebrities and anyone else who can afford it.” She almost sounded bitter toward the end there.

No wonder he couldn’t recall what they made. The only one who would have had any interest in something like that around here would have been his mother, decades ago before she preferred boots and denim to labels.

“5th Avenue in Manhattan, huh?” Ben whistled. “Sounds like you do pretty good for yourself out there.” And that meant he probably had no chance with her. Why would she ever give that up for mud and hay and cow turds?

“At the cost of my soul, sure.” She fixed her gaze on the island that was her last salvation before the waters ripped her away.

“How do you mean?”

“Lot of pressure, lot of competition, cutthroat corporate world, commutes and late trains, packed subways. I came out here to relax, to unwind from it all, just to see if I could get an ounce of my sanity back.” She chuckled, and it was so dry and cold. “Look how that turned out.”

Ben put his hands on her shoulders, and he hoped she didn’t take that as being too forward. “You’re alive. You have another chance to…turn life however way you want.” And that he knew from experience.

Rey shook her head and looked up at him, as if she was about to contradict him in every way possible, but then her eyes just lingered on him. She softened, face returning to that ray of sunshine that brightened his soul, and she put one denim-covered hand on his. “Maybe you’re right.”

“SOLO!” Hux screeched. When Ben turned to look, he saw his red-headed friend donning his compound hunting bow and hauling lengths of thin rope. Rose came up behind him and tied up a sack.

Ben shook his head. “What on planet Earth do you plan on doing with that?”

“We’ll get a couple ropes between the two of us and we can send stuff back and forth.” He readied an arrow with the rope tied to it.

“The hell you think you are, Robin Hood? That ain’t gonna work!”

“You go bow hunting? No. So shut your trap and just watch me.”

Ben pulled Rey far back from the bank. “Those better be blunt tips!”

Hux’s shoulders slunk. “Now what kind of dumbass do you take me for?”

“The biggest, reddest kind!”

Rey dropped her jaw. “How are the two of you even friends? I don’t think you’ve said one nice thing to each other since we’ve been here.”

Ben grinned. “Oh, Hux and I go way back. This is endearment between us.”

Hux aimed his bow, angling up and down. “I ain’t wasting my prized broad tips on you, asshole, unless it’s to poke you a new one. Now get out of the way. I’m sending this right where you’re standing.”

“Bullshit,” Ben muttered but pulled Rey far out of range.

After almost a minute of angling and aiming, Hux let fly. Coils of thin rope spun out beside him as the arrow coursed through the air. A wooden plink resounded right where Ben and Rey had been standing prior.

Holy shit.

Ben grabbed it and Hux called, “Now tie that shit up. I’m gonna send another over.”

“Why?”

“Just do it!”

Ben shook his head and secured the rope to a tree. When the next length of rope came flying over, Hux said, “Don’t tie that to nothing. Just wait and I’ll tell you when to pull.”

“Whatever you’re thinking, it’s _not_ going to work!”

“You said that out in Scranton too, and we survived, dumbass!”

Ben shut his mouth. He really didn’t want Rey to know more about that situation. He left that life and Kylo behind. But his friend had a point. Hux was willing to walk into a fire and not give half a damn if he was going to get something out of it, but he also had a strategic mind that assured him he’d walk out the other side unharmed. He was first and foremost a survivor who learned all he knew, good and bad, from an abusive, alcoholic father, the only parent Hux had since his mother died when he was four. It was Mama who had to set Hux straight after the whole First Order nonsense and brought him home alongside Ben. She only let him go back to his own when Hux Senior died after wrapping his car around a tree coming back from a bar, leaving Armitage the family farm.

Thankfully, for Hux’s sake, he met Rose not long after. He really needed someone tough and sharp to keep him in line. The farm and Hux himself had thrived ever since.

“Now PULL! Not too hard though. Nice and easy.”

Ben took one look at Rey and sighed in exasperation before doing as his friend asked. Hand over hand he pulled on the rope until something came into view and Ben had to eat his words. The rope was pulling Rose’s tied sack toward them. It was secured to a metal ring that rode along the first rope. Behind it hung another length Hux held onto.

“Well I’ll be damned,” Ben said, impressed at his crazy friend’s genius. What made this even better was Rey broke into the most precious laughter, her hands to her mouth, overjoyed by it all.

“Don’t untie the ropes from the S-ring!” Hux called. “I want my damn milk and eggs. I ain’t going another day without them.”

Despite the impressive setup, Ben couldn’t help but give him an incredulous frown. “Are you kidding me?! Now how in the hell am I supposed to send eggs like this?”

“You telling me I’m smarter than you, Solo?”

Oh that bastard. Now he had to find a way. Last thing he needed to do was look stupid compared to Hux. With the sack firmly in hand, he untied it from the S-ring and handed it to Rey. She opened it on the ground and gasped at all that was inside: a worn but functional pair of sneakers, a few articles of clothing including an unopened package of underwear, the softest knitted scarves, socks, and other items, and wrapped in plastic were chunks of meat.”

“Got a few roasts in there,” Hux said. “Really red one’s venison from last hunt. Ben knows how to cook it good.”

Rose said, “You might have to take in the underwear, but it’s better than trying to fit in Ben’s boxers.”

Ben wanted to say how absurd it was to give Rey a giant pair of his underwear but decided such things were not for polite company, nor did he need Rey getting uncomfortable talking about either of their under-needs.

Rey shook her head. “This is…it’s incredible, these knitted things are so beautiful, I can’t even believe it.”

“They’re from my alpacas. When you can come over, I’ll show them to you. We have to keep them corralled until we can put up new fencing around here.”

Rey pressed her lips together, tears sparkling at her eyes, and held her hands to her chest as she looked to the woman across the ravine. “Thank you…thank you so much. This is all so thoughtful.”

“Ah don’t mention it. We all gotta take care of each other, it’s how we get by, you know?”

Rey looked like she would burst into full tears any second but just nodded, holding the soft alpaca clothing to her chest.

Hux yelled over, “Now give me my damn milk, eggs, and butter, Solo! I need a cake in my life after all this shit!”

Ben rolled his eyes again, wondering how they didn’t just fall out of his head every time he was around Hux. Ben helped Rey gather everything to take back to the truck. She was so quiet but didn’t seem upset. It was hard to read. Then again she had to be exhausted, after everything yesterday, helping him with logs and branches today, facing the grim remnants down in the canyon that reminded her how close to death she had come.

He set the meat in the big cooler he used for the dairy products and searched for what in the world he would use to send things over. The crate seemed like it would tip in twelve seconds, but sending eggs and the rest in a sack just seemed like a great way to break every single one.

“Here,” Rey said, setting the now empty sack on the truck bed. “Put a crate in there and well tie it up, send it across.”

Ben felt like an idiot. “Now why didn’t I think of that?”

Rey grinned. “I’ve had to prepare and deliver celebrity gift baskets without tipping them over or getting anything damaged, it’s like second nature.”

Ben eyed her with a smile as he stocked the crate with his goods. She felt too much like the puzzle piece he had been looking for that finally slipped into place.

#

With the Hux family thrilled to get their cake supplies, Ben and Rey headed back to his house. On the ride, Rey nuzzled into that alpaca scarf and seemed so much more content than she did earlier. Her eyes trailed the landscape as if looking at a long-lost lover.

The afternoon grew late, a warm yellow glow entering the kitchen as Ben and Rey unpacked all the goodies from his friends. His table seemed fuller than ever, and he knew they had given him extra on account of Rey and her ordeal.

Ben dug into his cabinets and pulled out a pan. “Thinking maybe a roast with those potatoes, carrots, and onions will be nice for dinner, salad too.”

Rey smiled. “Sounds perfect. Where’s your cutting board? I’ll get started on the onions.”

“Oh, you don’t have to do nothing. I got it. You just sit back and relax. You want me to get the fire going in the living room?”

“Well, yes, I’d love that, but I _insist_ on helping you first. I’m not broken or feeble.” She grinned. “I can certainly cut an onion.”

It was too easy to give in to her, even when he knew he should be the one doing all the work after what she went through. But despite any further polite protests, she helped herself to his cabinets, pulled out a cutting board and a knife, and got to work. There would be no dissuading her.

Reminded him of his mother.

While she attacked the onions, carrots, and potatoes, he seasoned the meat to perfection. He put the root vegetables together with the roast, and she prepared the salad. They worked together as if they had been with one another for years. With Rey there, it was like his home had come alive again.

A perfect puzzle piece set into place. 

The roast would need time to cook, so they sat and had bread with cheese and black raspberry preserves. Then Ben got the fire started for Rey and hit the shower to get the incessant sawdust off his skin and scalp. Tomorrow they’d have to venture out to see if they could get to Dr. Phasma. Ben kept thinking of Rey slipping beneath the flood waters and feared she could have caught something and not known it yet. The idea of anything happening to her turned his stomach into knots.

A little tired and not quite thinking, he entered autopilot mode and forgot to secure his clothing in the bathroom. Growling at himself, he shoved a brush through his hair, slicking it back, and secured the towel around his waist. Surely this time he could scamper into his bedroom before she saw a thing.

Ben opened the bathroom door and nearly tripped over her legs. There she was, sitting on the floor with her back against the wall, head tipped to the side as she slept. She must have gotten frightened again, especially with it getting so dark. With a sigh, he decided it would be best to dress himself before getting her up off the floor.

He had just pulled his sweatpants over his rear when he heard her voice.

“Ben?”

He turned to her, his shirt still lingering in his dresser drawer. That was the second time she caught him like that, and he wondered how long she had been standing there. “Sweetheart, what were you doing on the floor?” He reached into the drawer and grasped a shirt.

“I just needed to be close to you.” Her tired eyes roved his chest followed by a yawn.

“Why don’t you lie down, take a nap. Dinner won’t be ready for another good hour or so.”

Her eyes cast downward once he pulled his shirt over his stomach. “Can you sit with me? Like yesterday? Before the fire?”

Ben swallowed, not wanting to read more into it than was reality, but damn if he didn’t enjoy the prospects. “Sure, hon.”

He stepped into the living room as her sleepy self followed and plopped down before the radiating orange glow of the fire. Rey slipped in next to him, bundled herself in blankets, and curled up onto his chest like the last time. In less than a minute she was asleep again, and he briefly wondered if this closeness and affection was just a result of being tired and not thinking straight.

Well, he could read into it later. For now, she was warm and soft and curled beneath his arm, and if this was just another fluke from an exhausted storm victim, then he was going to enjoy it to the fullest before reality reared its lonely, ugly head once more.

Still, it would be nice to have this forever—a beautiful woman in his arms, warmed by the fire, content in everything around them, enjoying a simplicity that was its own richness.

A man could dream, couldn’t he?

#

Dinner was incredible, eaten by lamplight and the orange glow from the pot belly stove. Ben did offer to turn on kitchen lights while they ate. Nope, Rey refused, too content in the old world charm as she sat wrapped in an alpaca shawl by the warm stove.

After her shower, they were both curled up on the couch again. He wasn’t sure how she could be so easily affectionate. He’d have thought she’d be afraid, keeping her distance. She didn’t know a thing about him and was really up the creek without a paddle (no pun intended) on her own right at the moment. It made no sense, but he didn’t complain either.

Maybe in the midst of that hell they both endured the day before, they formed a bond stronger than any rationale.

“I could put on a movie,” he told her. “I know it will tax the generator a little, but I’m pretty full on propane, sure I got enough to last us.”

“I don’t know.”

“Can watch something on the satellite TV again, or I got some DVDs over there: _Top Gun_ , _Star Wars_ , _Titanic_ …” He clamped his mouth shut and wanted to punch himself for that one. Yeah, that’s what a flood victim wants to watch, water filling a boat, people stranded in a freezing ocean, good call, Ben.

She turned up to him with an incredulously crinkled brow. “ _Titanic_? Really?”

Ben just stared at her with his mouth open. “I…I didn’t mean…I forgot…”

Rey nestled back into the crook of his arm. “I’d much rather watch _The Poseidon Adventure_.”

Ben broke into chuckles as she giggled into his chest. “I might have _Waterworld_ somewhere.”

Rey laughed hard. “How about _A River Runs Through It_?”

They both laughed, and Ben instinctively hugged her in the midst of it without really thinking. He tried to let go, but she squeezed him even tighter. The laughter died down, tension gone along with it.

“How about a book?” Rey said. “You’ve got lots of those. A little lantern light, no taxing the generator. No problem.”

Ben smiled. The thought of the two of them warm and cozy on the couch imbibing in one of his favorite pastimes warmed his soul. “Come on. Let’s go pick something.”

“It’s all yours,” Ben said as Rey sat at the edge of the bed.

Rey shook her head. “I really should take the couch. You’ve been so gracious and giving, and you’re so, well, big—”

Ben chuckled.

“—really, I don’t mind the couch.”

Ben leaned forward. “Not so long as my feet walk the planet will I ever let you sleep on the couch. Please, relax and enjoy. I’ll be fine.”

Rey smiled up at him. “Thanks.” She turned the wick down on the oil lantern until the light was extinguished. In the darkness he heard her nestle into bed.

Ben gently closed the bedroom door and plopped onto the couch. The glow of the fire behind the secure glass doors kept everything softly lit, at least until he’d finally doze. He drew the blanket up on himself and damn if it didn’t smell like her. Sure she was using his soap and shampoo, but he swore he could smell and feel her in it.

A warm, cozy thought to drift off to.

“Ben?”

He startled awake. The fire was nearly out, and Rey was just a faint reflection in the dim orange light. “Rey? What’s the matter, hon?”

She sniffled. “I can’t do it. I’m trying and I keep waking up with this terrible feeling like I’m going to feel the whole house shaking and step my feet down into water, and I feel so alone and scared—”

“Shhhh…” He stood and gently grasped her arms. “You’re not alone. I’m here.”

She sniffled again and wiped her face. “Stay with me? Please?”

He’d like nothing more and kind of started to hate himself for it, thinking so selfishly in her time of need. “Okay. Okay.”

There she was, at the edge of the bed again like before, so he took the other side. After a few more sniffles, she said, “I’m sure it’s uncomfortable, and I hate asking you to do this.”

Boy did she have it wrong. “No no, it’s fine.”

“I don’t want you to get the wrong idea about me. I don’t…I’m not usually like this. I don’t go making strange men sleep with me on a typical basis. I realize I’m asking a lot, I do. And you’ve been…nothing but kind and respectful despite what I’m asking you to do. I just…I want you to know I appreciate you stepping up and doing this for me even if…even if it’s weird.”

Ben sat on the other side, not sure how things were going to play out this night. “It’s not. Really it isn’t.”

“I realize that…asking you to share your bed with a woman you barely know…this can only get weird, and believe me if I could sleep alone I would…”

He wondered if all her concern about making him uncomfortable was really about her own discomfort about this. “If it…makes you feel any better, we can just put a few pillows down the middle. That way you know someone’s there with you but nothing has to be…uncomfortable.”

Silence, then, “Okay, yeah, maybe. That might work.”

Ben grabbed a few spare pillows from the closet and piled them in the center of the huge bed. “There we are. How’s that?”

“That’s good.” He heard her nestle down and he joined in on the other side. “Goodnight Ben, and…thank you, for this, for everything.”

“No need to thank me, sweetheart. Get some rest.”

Rey grew quiet, and then her breaths deepened as she dozed off. Good. In some ways, Ben couldn’t wait to get to sleep just so he could see her face again in the morning. But honestly, he just lay there staring into the darkness, kind of wishing for what they had the night before when he held her.

Reality had a way of creeping in and screwing everything up sometimes. But it was what it was. He was there to help her, not help himself, and he had to be okay with that.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know Hux is a bit out of character in this story, but he came across this way for me here, and I kind of enjoy this interesting side of him LOL!


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Ben shares his dark past and hopes Rey will still accept him. Then they view the aftermath at the cabin site Rey had been staying in.

The next morning Ben woke to the sun-drenched bedroom. Turned on his side, he couldn’t recall the last time he felt so perfectly comfortable and right and honestly wondered why. That’s when he looked down.

The pillows that had divided the bed were scattered, a few having fallen to the floor, one on the far side by the headboard. And curled up under his chin was Rey. He wondered what the hell he did in the night, but he was still in the same spot. _She_ had come to him. _She_ did this.

The sunbeam turned her wisps of hair into golden waves like fields of grain in autumn. He wanted to touch it, so badly he wanted to sift through her silk and touch divinity.

The more he studied her, the more he fought the urge to hold her close, nestle in deep against her, peck her face with soft kisses to wake to.

Ben shifted, angling away to pull himself from the utter temptation, and she finally stirred. After a sharp intake of breath, she looked at the close proximity of his chest, then up at him and bore an awkward grin. “Well, you’re pretty friendly in the morning.”

Ben lifted his brow. “With all due respect, hon, you’re on my side of the bed.”

She turned, inquisitive, and saw the giant empty space behind her. She rolled back to him with her lip between her teeth. “I’m sorry.”

“Nothing to be sorry for.” And he looked at her, wanting, willing her to see how much he meant that, how much he actually, really, very much wanted to wake with her like this every day.

And she looked back up at him, reading him, then something perhaps dawning which made her roll over and away from him. “Guess it’s time to take care of the girls?”

Ben sat up, aching for that missing warmth. “Yep. Another morning on the Sky Walker Farm. After breakfast, I want to see if we can get up to Dr. Phasma’s place. I want to make sure you’re okay.”

“I feel fine.”

“Well, just in case. You never know what could be lurking in flood waters.”

“If you insist. Think someone else’s phones are up? I really have to get in touch with my job. I have to get home, God, get my license, get my records so I can even get a copy of my license, I don’t even know how I’m going to get into my apartment without my keys, I have to call the landlord. I can’t just…sit idly by while my life is on hold. I have to get back to it.”

She sounded so frustrated. Ben wondered if he really did go too far, if his gaze lingered too long. She suddenly seemed so eager to leave.

And that was the absolute last thing he wanted and knew it had to happen.

“I promise,” he said, “whatever I can do for you, I’ll do it.”

“I just…don’t want to be in your way anymore.”

Ben turned and braced his fingers on the mattress. “Rey?” She turned and caught his eyes. “You have not in any way, shape, or form been in my way. Not once.”

Rey softened, and just as it came, it passed into hardening again. She stood, pacing. “I don’t know what I’m doing or what I’m thinking. I mean, for all I know, you could be a serial killer with bodies in the basement and I’m over here begging you to sleep with me at night.” She put her hand to her head. “I’m not _like_ this, I’m _smarter_ than this! What the hell am I doing?”

Ben pressed his lips together and rubbed his fingertips against the fabric of the sheets. He definitely lingered with his gaze too long, probably scared her off, the one thing he was hoping not to do. “Well, um…you can check the basement if you like. Got lots of old rodeo paraphernalia and a shelf of law books, but no bodies or chains or whips or nothing.”

The glare, the _glare_ she gave him made him really rethink his lightheartedness. Then she burst into laughter, burying it in her hands. It was enough that she fell back against the wall, laughing so hard she was gasping for breath.

He didn’t think it was _that_ funny, but she sure did.

Then she thrust her hands down and shook her head, smiling at the ceiling. “What am I doing? I’m…biting your head off when you’ve been nothing but a pure gentleman. You could have…done anything you wanted to me, last night or the night before. Only you didn’t touch me in any weird way once, not even once. I’m…questioning you when it’s me, it’s my head, all in my…cynical, cynical head.” She shrugged and held herself. “I guess maybe there’s a part of me that can’t believe someone like you is real.”

Well that lifted his heart a few degrees. He poked his thigh. “Last I checked.”

Rey chuckled and shoved a hand through her hair. “We should get up, huh?”

Ben stood. “Yeah, probably should.”

#

The drive to Phasma’s was similar to the day before, only a few others must have been out because more trees were cleared from the roads. Still, there was plenty for Ben’s chainsaw, and it looked like they’d have another load of firewood to bring home.

Arriving at Phasma’s, they faced a whole other problem. A small stream ran through the front of her property, but during the hurricane it must have turned into a river because the bridge that usually went across it was washed against a tangle of trees.

Ben stood there assessing the gouged trench when the tall doctor came out to greet him.

“Hell of a storm, huh Ben?” she said in her deep voice.

“Oh yeah. Listen, hate to come to your house like this, but—”

“Phone lines down, believe me, I get it. I’d drive around and see if anyone needed help, but as you can see, I’m stuck here for a while. What can I do for you?”

“Dr. Phasma, this is Rey Johnson. She got caught in the flood waters, went under and everything—”

Rey added, “And Ben jumped in to save me, pulled me out.”

Phasma raised her brow, impressed. “Well, aren’t we the hero?”

Ben felt his cheeks redden. “Wasn’t nothing. But I just want to see if you can give her a checkup. I don’t know if she swallowed water or what or if that nasty water could do something some other way.”

“You both should be treated with antibiotics as a precaution. If you don’t mind hopping through this muddy mess, I can get a look at the both of you, then I can give you a few sample packs that should get you through the next few days until you can get to the pharmacy.”

Ben extended his hand. “Rey? Shall we?”

She smiled and shrugged. “Glad I stuck to wearing Poe’s boots.”

“Probably a good idea until things clear up around here.”

Phasma examined them individually, citing privacy, and kept Rey in there a little longer. But in his exam, he got to talking with Phasma and he offered to drive her about so they could check on whoever they could reach, to see if they had any medical needs while the phone lines were down.

With their exams done and medication in hand, the three set off driving about, stopping at houses, and waiting for Phasma when her services were indeed needed. Finally, they visited Snap Wexley, who had a backhoe he used for working on pipe and septic problems. He and his brothers offered to head over to Phasma’s to get her bridge functional so she could continue to head out when needed.

“I can’t thank you enough,” she said as they drove back. “I felt so trapped once the bridge went out, and with the phones not working. You know if I didn’t look at that wound Mitaka had, it would have gotten infected in no time.”

Ben gave a huff of a laugh. “That fool could win a prize for ignoring wounds.”

“I just really appreciate this. You’ve been a lifesaver today.”

Rey smiled. “He’s been a lifesaver all week.”

“Got a point there!”

Ben tried to suck the blush off his cheeks. “Just trying to help out. Listen, Dr. Phasma, I’m short on cash, what with the roads out. I can give you what I have and you can just send me a bill for the rest.”

“I’m not going to bill you after you’ve been carting me around all day.”

“Oh no, I insist. You got to make a living too.”

Rey shrugged. “I’d gladly pay, would give you my insurance card, but…it’s probably buried in mud right now. But if there’s any way, if Ben could get me the bill, I can do something once I get back. I feel like I owe him, owe everyone.”

Ben pulled up the driveway to Phasma’s as far as he could go. When he stopped, he stared right into her eyes. “You don’t owe me one cent, not for anything, not ever, you hear me?”

Rey gave him a crumpled smile. Phasma patted her on the arm and let herself out. “No charge today. Not for you Ben. Deal with it.” She smiled before closing the truck door. “And thanks again for getting me out.”

“My pleasure.” Ben waved to her, then watched as she got back safely across the trench.

Ben drove off and headed toward one of the other bridges to see if that one was out too. Besides, it seemed like Rey enjoyed these long rides. She always seemed content staring out the window and would sometimes gasp and point. Which meant he had to take her to the perfect spot.

He headed up 670 North, which was nothing but steep inclines, all climbing to the highest peaks in the area. Once he reached the spot, he stopped the truck. Rey’s mouth hung open as she stared out the windows.

Ben smirked. “Better view out here.”

Rey slid out of the truck to stand by his side and turned to survey the 360 degree vista around them, nothing but hilly mountains of green and gold. The dark green held the expanses of forests full of oak, hemlock, and pine. The lighter greens and gold were tracts of farmland, square and rectangular as opposed to the odd shapes of the forest. Out toward the horizon the mountains continued, turning blue and purple in the atmosphere.

“It ain’t the Rockies,” Ben said, stuffing his hands in his pockets. “But there’s still something special about the Pocono Mountains region. It has a charm all its own.”

“I love it,” she said in such a distant, yearning voice. “It’s beautiful.”

He grinned, hunching his shoulders. “Thought you might like it.”

Rey shook her head. “I feel like I would have missed so much if I would have stayed at the cabin like I planned.” She shuffled her feet. “I wonder how it held up.”

Ben shrugged. “Might be able to take a look. Where was it at? You remember the address?”

“Yeah, on 247, the Kanata property? Not really a campground, just a big property with a few cabins on it.”

Ben nodded. “I know where that is.” He pulled out his phone, bringing up the map that kept screaming it was in offline mode. He narrowed down to where it was, and realized he’d have to find a different way to get there than putting in the address. Right there was the river that nearly took her life, and there was no way to cross it.

But he knew those roads well enough and headed off in that direction.

Rey was quiet a while, then said, “You really are an angel.”

He smiled. “I’m really not.”

She rolled her eyes. “Oh save your humility. You jump in to save me, clear roads, help your friends and neighbors, take the doctor around, take care of me, do all these things…” Her voice cast down to a whisper. “…hold me in the night when I’m scared.” She shook her head. “And you haven’t once tried to take advantage of me, even when…I gave you ample opportunity when my head was a mess…”

“Well, of course not. What kind of man would I be to take advantage of you when you’re in your worst moments?”

“I don’t know! Every man I’ve ever dated?” She shook her head. “You don’t know how rare you are. A really, truly, good person.”

Ben swallowed and seriously wrestled with whether to tell her the truth about his past. Maybe it was better she knew, before things got complicated. He realized that admitting the truth could very well scare her off, for good probably, but better she knew he wasn’t the angel she swore he was.

If it really bothered her, he was sure Poe and Finn or Amilyn would take her in, let her stay until things cleared up.

He licked his lips, realizing the next words out of his mouth could ruin the special bond they had formed, could ruin that pleasant delight of having her in his home and brightening it with her sweet spirit. “I wasn’t always a good person.”

She tilted her head. “Oh?”

Ben sighed and kept his attention straight on the road. “I got into some bad stuff when I was a teen. My parents…see, my father just wasn’t cut out for the simple, quiet life, and I guess too many years of trying to be something he wasn’t for my mother’s sake started weighing too heavily on him. He started getting into smuggling stuff, I don’t even know what, not like he talked about it, but I remember hearing my mama tell Amilyn about it.

“Well, Mama told him it was either his family or his smuggling, because if he kept it up then he’d have to get the hell out. He…chose the outlaw life…over us.”

Rey winced. “I’m sorry.”

“So Mama kicked him out, and me, being a stupid teen, got angry at her. Blamed her. In my eyes, she broke up the family. What the hell do kids know, you know? So I wanted to be like my dad. I don’t know. I guess I thought maybe it would bring us closer, that he would be in my life more if I was more like him. So I…” This was so hard to say. “…started getting into the drug scene. Not so much a user, but a seller. But as much as I wanted to be like my dad, I wanted to _make it_ on my own. So I called myself Kylo Ren instead of Ben Solo so no one could attach me to my dad. It was me and Hux, who called himself The General back then, that joined the First Order, a gang based out of Scranton that kind of loosely inhabited the area. When you got a lot of bored teens, drugs go flying, and we wanted in on it.

“The gang leader, Snoke, liked that I was big and angry and not afraid to punch someone in the face or throw my strength around. Hux he liked because Hux would get a lot of crazy ideas that would actually work. So, between the two of us, we peddled drugs and…enforced payment when requested. Dumb…dumb shit.”

She said nothing, so he decided to continue. Might as well lay it all out there, right? See how she took it? The truth about him? “I certainly made out well for myself while it was going good. I left home, stayed with Snoke and Hux and a few others in this old warehouse out near Scranton, and we all just lived this outlaw life that was exciting and dangerous and…we hurt people. That’s what we did. I was…not a good person at all back then. And I didn’t very much like myself either. I didn’t like what I had become. I took out my anger on people I was enforcing, sometimes hurt them real bad, didn’t kill anyone far as I know, but…I sure knew how to use my fist. But none of it…nothing made the anger go away. Nothing made the pain go away.

“I was mad at my mother for so long, then I come to realize I had no right to be mad at her. Then I was mad at my dad, who chose smuggling over his family. Just, angry, so damn angry back then. But things were getting bad. Snoke was an even bigger guy than me, would beat the shit out of me whether I failed or did something right. I was spiraling out of control, so damn angry but also so damn depressed I just wanted to die sometimes, just throw myself off of one of those high bridges because I hated what I had become, and felt like there was no way out. I wanted to go home, but how could my mother ever take me home after what I’d done?”

Still Rey remained silent, and Ben really started regretting telling her this story. So he just left it there, his stomach roiling in anxiety, wishing he could take it all back, pretend it never happened, and continue on in ignorant bliss at home with Rey.

“So what happened? Clearly you came home.”

Ben breathed a sigh of relief. “Um, well, the law caught up to me and Hux. We were arrested, and I never expected to see my mother standing there, but she bailed us both out. I thought she’d slap me when I came to her that day, after being let out of jail, but instead she hugged me. And I…I burst into tears. Hmph, some tough man I was, huh? She told me how scared she was when I was gone, how she missed me and kept trying to find me. And all I could think of was how badly I wanted to go home all that time and thought I couldn’t, that she wouldn’t want me, and she was trying to find me all the while.”

Ben cleared his throat and adjusted his position in the driver’s seat. “She hired a lawyer and acted as a consultant because she never took the Pennsylvania bar so she couldn’t really act as counsel, plus she always said it was better to get counsel from the outside, someone with a clear head. But of course she had years of experience as an ADA and knew her way around things. Between her and the lawyers, they managed to reduce the sentence to six months in juvenile detention for both me and Hux as long as we gave up our ringleader.” He tipped his head back onto the seat. “I was scared. I was so fucking scared, but I gave up Snoke just to save the both of us from winding up in an adult prison.

“Well, Snoke gets arrested, posts bail, now he’s out, and we were _terrified_. Me and Hux did our time in juvy, but Snoke skipped bail. One day toward the end of our sentence we got a creepy fucking letter I knew was from him, saying revenge would be sweet. God, I ain’t never been so scared in my life. We were supposed to turn things around, you know? Get out of that life, and now this gang leader was going to get us.”

Her eyes were wide as she listened. “So what did you do?”

“ _I_ did nothing. We got out, Mama took us both home and got us working on the farm again, seeing as Hux’s abusive father said he didn’t even want him back home. See, Hux’s mom died when he was four, and his father never got over it, took everything out on him, and Mama wasn’t going to let Hux go back to that. So she put our asses to work, that’s for damn sure, and we were to keep our traps shut about it.” He gave a soft huff of a laugh. “I remember Mama coming to me after the plea agreement was all said and done. See, she was going to be a hardass for everyone around her, big city lawyer, former district attorney, she squeezed into those old Prada suits and marched around like she owned the courthouse. Bet the judges and DA didn’t like it none, but she sure as hell made an impression. And when it was all over, she pointed to herself and spat at me, ‘Don’t you EVER make me wear this shit again.’ I nodded, promising. And I made good on that promise.

“But back home, yeah, she worked our asses off to pay for what she had to go through to save us. But all the while we kept wondering if every car that drove by would have a gun sticking out of it and—” He made his hand into a gun shape and motioned. “—boom!”

“Jesus…”

“Lucky for me, my dad got wind of all this, and he started coming around a lot more, even if he wasn’t welcome to stay on account of still continuing his ways. But one day he tells us a story. See, he found out who Snoke was. His dealings with the criminal underbelly, well, they were much bigger than anything Snoke was tossing along. So one day my father sees him and—” He turned his fingers into a gun again and motioned. “—BAM BAM BAM! Fires three shots into the wall right next to Snoke’s face, like mere inches. And then he gets up real close to Snoke and says, ‘That was a warning shot. You ever come near my kid or Hux ever again, the first bullet’s gonna blow off your dick, the next goes between your balls, and the last goes between your eyes after I’ve left you suffering a while. In fact, why don’t you go on ahead and get the hell out of the region. Maybe go south, go fuck around in Philly if you think you’re so tough.’” Ben shook his head. “I’ll say this about my father, he didn’t play around. Han Solo always shot first.”

Rey’s face was nothing but shock and awe. “So did Snoke stay away?”

“Never did see him again. Not after that, and then I read in the paper he was shot dead in Philly, guess he took my father’s advice to head down there.” Ben took a breath. “Though to be honest, there’s a part of me that always wonders if my dad made good on his threat. I wouldn’t put it past him.”

Rey plopped back against the seat and took a breath. “Wow.”

“Yeahhhh.” He flashed her a small smile. “So now you know, I ain’t the angel you’re looking for. Just a…flawed man who was so torn between the darkness and the light when I was younger that it nearly ripped me apart. Been…trying to live right ever since. I learned the value of friendship, relationships, hard work, and appreciating a soft, simple life, and I’ve done my best to atone since then, trying to…take care of others, keep them out of trouble. I had more than a few talks with teens I see screwing with stuff I know is gonna hurt them. And me and Hux have had to scare off a few gang members that tried to start shit in our little neck of the woods here. We can’t take back what we done, you know? But we’ve been trying to do right since.”

Rey just remained silent.

Ben gripped the steering wheel. “Um…I just thought you should know the truth about me, before anyone brought it up. If you’re…look, I mean I get it. Maybe it wasn’t such a good idea to tell you that story, seeing as you depend on me right now. If you’re uncomfortable—I mean if it’s too much—I’ll understand, believe me. If you don’t want to stay with me no more, I’m sure Amilyn or Finn and Poe can put you up for a few days until we can find a way to get you home.”

Still more silence, and Ben was starting to really worry about what would come next. Then finally she spoke. “That’s what she meant. I get it now.”

Ben lifted one eyebrow. “Who?”

“Amilyn. She said you were a good man and to ignore anything you try to tell me otherwise, that you got into some bad stuff when you were a teen, but you’d grown up so much since then and regretted everything you did. She said you’d try to dissuade me, make me think you’re a lot worse than you are.”

Ben took a breath. “Well, she would know the story more than anyone around here besides Hux himself. She was there for my mama all through it, when I ran off for almost two years, the trial, us coming back. Mrs. Holdo was there for her when no one else was, not even me.”

“And she still believes in you.”

Ben shrugged. “She’s just…trying to be what my mama can’t be for me now.”

Rey leaned her head against the window. “Or maybe she’s right.” She smiled. “You’re not the only broken angel you know.”

Now he was intrigued. “Oh?”

“My parents were messed up, drugs and whatnot, so I wound up in the foster care system. When your whole life gets upended, especially when you’re heading into the teen years, the hormonal years, yeah, you don’t take it too well. You weren’t the only one who was angry.”

He had a hard time imagining anger on that lovely face.

“And it didn’t take much to set me off. Constantly getting kicked out of class, suspended, getting into fights—”

“You?”

She chuckled. “Ohhhh yeah. Then one of my foster brothers tried to put his hands on me, and the rage just flew. I smashed his face into the wall, and well, that was yet another return to sender, back into the group home where you had to watch your back even while you slept.”

Ben nodded. “Juvy wasn’t much different.”

“Then there was the foster stepfather who tried the same, and since he was an adult and should know better, and probably was going to try it on someone else if not me, I just…unleashed on him. I honestly don’t remember much I was in such a rage, but he wound up in the hospital and I wound up back in the group home. But it turned out I _wasn’t_ the first he’d tried that on, and he found his ass in jail and I _didn’t_ get sent to juvy like I thought.”

“Jesus…”

“The final straw was one place that said I’d have this nice bedroom, or at least that’s what they told the placement counselor. Yeah, turns out I was supposed to get the _closet_ in that room, not the room itself. I refused to stay in there, and do you believe they locked it from the outside? Locked me in? Well, I don’t know what power came over me, but I just roared and kicked and kicked that door until it finally busted open. They called the cops on me, but they’re the ones that got in trouble when they saw my shoe prints on the inside of that door and the busted wood showing it was broken from the inside. But, well, that was it. I was told they wouldn’t bother placing me anymore, because _I_ was too violent and out of control. Me!”

“What bullshit.” That stirred up some old anger in him, that anyone could treat her like that.

“Apparently I was supposed to use my words, to tell someone what was happening, not handle it on my own. They said I’d never make anything of myself until I learned to—” Rey made air quotes. “—calm down. I’d forever be known as Rey Nobody. Well, this nobody was going to _be_ somebody. I wanted to make sure of that. I wanted to just _shove_ it in everyone’s faces.”

Ben could almost feel the heat of fury pouring off of her, and he had to admit, it was an even bigger turn-on than thinking of her as a sweet, innocent angel.

She chuckled mirthlessly. “Yeah, so I made something of myself. Made more money than any of them could imagine. I’ve got pictures of me beside celebrities, laughing with them like we’re old friends. I’m somebody now. Rey Johnson is _somebody_.” Back to that mirthless chuckle. “And what does it matter?”

He glanced at her. “What do you mean?”

She sighed as she leaned against the window. “How many celebrity pictures can cure the pain of your past? Even if I took them and literally shoved them in the faces of all those who thought I’d just be some statistic on the street, what would it solve? What did it solve? I…stress myself out on a daily basis to fulfill a dream that means nothing. That’s why I came out here, to get away, to see if I could find myself again in the peace and quiet, in the… _real_ world, with wildlife and trees and fresh air, the things we humans started with, you know? Just get back to nature, get back to it all, get clarity on what the hell I’m doing with my life. And…the answer was to get obliterated by a flood.” Such dark laughter followed that irony.

Ben flashed her a soft smile. “Not so obliterated. You’re here.”

She smiled that sweet, warm smile at him again. “I am. Thanks to you. My angel. The one who thinks having tattered wings makes him any less of an angel to me.”

Shit, that almost brought tears to his eyes. He could only swallow. She accepted him, flaws and all.

Still smiling, she turned her gaze out the window once more. “Maybe if we put both our sets of tattered wings together, we can make one full, beautiful set.”

Ben’s heart lit on fire and he wasn’t sure it was ever going to stop.

#

Ben pulled alongside the road and hopped out with Rey. He double checked the map on his phone and showed her. “That’s got to be it.”

She nodded. “I see the observation stand out there, and the sign. Yeah, there’s the drive, I remember that little storage shed, and…” Her face fell.

“What’s up, hon?”

“Look at the road. The drive.”

Ben narrowed his focus to the landmark in question. The ground began about three feet below where the drive abruptly ended.

Rey pointed and whispered, “Look at the stone.”

Ben followed the direction and found it. A rectangular set of stones jutted from the muddy ground. A building once stood there.

“That’s where I was.” Her voice was so strained. “I woke up in there, my feet in water. I must have…I escaped just in time…that wall of water, it just obliterated the cabin! Oh god, Ben! I could have been in there! I could have been in there when it hit!” She sucked in breath after panicking breath.

Ben spun her away from the visual and held her as her breaths broke into sobs. He petted her hair while staring at the remnants of the foundation.

This joy he had found, this light, it could have been stolen from him, from the world, if not for interventions of fate.

“I could have died,” she shrieked into his chest, “and I didn’t even get to _live!_ ”

Ben rubbed her back as he rested his chin on her head. “The powers that be had other plans. You’re here, that’s all that matters.”

“So are you,” she whispered into his shirt.

The ride home, the evening itself, it all felt so different. Getting his past off his chest, and having her still accept him, made things so much easier. He felt like he could open up more, be himself, even mention the crazy things Hux did in Scranton, to which they both shared a hearty laugh.

She accepted his dark past, and he barely flinched at hers.

That night, they climbed into bed, he there as her guardian against the fear, and she not having requested the pillow wall that didn’t do any good the first time.

They started off back to back, but by morning she would wind up in his arms once more.

#

When Ben woke to warmth and delight on another sun-drenched morning, he had to gently angle his hips away from Rey. The shock, confusion, and wariness had worn off the past two days, and after some seriously sweet dreams the night before, he was feeling a hefty level of amorous. If only this was his forever. He could just gently wake her with the softest kisses and nudge himself against her body.

But this was a trauma victim trusting him in such a vulnerable state, and he didn’t need his clueless buddy getting in the way of that.

He had to get up, tend to the farm, but basking in her presence like this was such sweet honey bliss, he wished he never had to leave it.

But something else decided for him. His phone started buzzing and pinging, waking her up along with it. Ben spun and grabbed it, excited to see his four bars, the most he’d ever get out here. Message after message popped up.

“Are the phones back?” she asked in that sleepy whisper.

Ben sat up. “Looks like. Listen, I gotta field a few calls here, then promise you can have it all you like.”

“Yeah I know, I know, believe me I know.” Ben paced his kitchen. “I’m gonna put a call into PENNDOT as soon as I can now that things are working, I mean we’re legitimately stuck here until they get some sort of bridge going.” He listened. “Oh believe me, I want my milk in your store just as much as you do, if I can find any way to get over, believe me, I will.” He grinned. “Best I can offer is sending it by rope next to Hux’s farm…No, I’m not joking, that’s how we’ve been sending things to him.” He listened. “Well, consider it, until then, believe me, I got your order ready to go.”

Ben sighed, marked off another item on his to-do list, and made the call to the Department of Transportation. Then he put in a call to the State Police about Rey’s car. She’d need a police report to get anything done back home. He responded to texts from Poe, Rose, and Amilyn and fielded a few more customer calls, apologizing for not being able to get to them and yet again offering transfer by Hux. Thankfully he knew these people, and while they laughed at the prospects, they also considered it.

Finally, he handed his phone to Rey. She had been so peacefully sitting on the back porch, enjoying her tea and watching the clouds rise up the mountains, she almost seemed disappointed to have it in her hands.

He needed to tend to his farm and left her with some privacy to do what she needed to do.

When he came back in, it was like another creature had replaced her.

“Oh, do you think I planned this? Do you really think I planned this?” Rey’s eyes were nothing but pure fire. “Oh, so it’s my fault. _I_ broke the dam, hell, _I_ made the hurricane show up!” She listened with furiously pursed lips. “Oh, so I can’t go where I want on _my_ time off in case something happens so I can be available for you?! What, you want me to just sit at home like a good little girl and wait at your beck and call, even on _my_ time that you _don’t_ pay me for?!”

Ben slid quietly toward the refrigerator, got himself some butter and preserves, and sat at the table. It was like watching a show, no, it was like watching his _mother_ when she got good and angry and turned on her big city attorney speak.

“You tell me right now how scarves are more important than a person’s life. Please, I want to hear this!”

Oh boy.

“Oh, Ariana Grande is worth my life then, is that what you’re saying?”

Ohhhh man.

“Well then she can grab her millions of dollars and fly over here with a goddamned helicopter and bring me to my office so SHE CAN HAVE HER SCARVES!”

Ben chewed nice and slow and quiet, praying he never ended up on the other end of that fury.

“No, I do not know when. We _just_ got cell service back this morning. The bridges are _gone_ , and I mean gone. My car is buried in mud. My license, my _everything_ is floating somewhere downriver, probably in the damn ocean by now for all I know. We _cannot_ get out of here, and even when I do, I need time to get my life put back together. I don’t even have a damn credit card to pay for a Metrocard, how the hell am I supposed to get to midtown?”

Metrocard. Midtown. Was like watching one of those TV shows based in New York City, only that was her reality. What different worlds they came from, yet was one his mother knew well even if she had tried to forget.

“NO I can’t work from where I am, I don’t have anything! My laptop is at my apartment!” She paused. “This is a fucking farm, they don’t have computers here!”

Ben stuck his finger up to say something then put it right back down. This seemed like a bad time to mention he very much had one.

“No, I won’t. I will not to do that. How about this? How about you just assume that I am not coming into work unless I damn well call you and tell you I’m coming in, because I literally don’t know when that will be, and you are all just going to have to deal.” Another pause. “Well just have them reset my password and go in under my profile, I literally don’t care right now! I almost died, do you understand that? I’m having panic attacks every night over it, I lost everything important to me, and all you can do is see how it affected you—” She blinked, frowned. “Hello? HELLO?!” She stared at the phone and growled. Boy he hoped she didn’t crush or throw it because she looked that angry. “He hung UP ON ME?! Who the FUCK does he think he is hanging up on me?!”

Rey set his phone down and stomped around the kitchen, growling and swearing and muttering. Ben just chewed and watched her, smart enough to know when not to get in angry women’s faces.

Then she slammed her hands on the table and looked at him. “I almost died, and all they can think about is how it affects them! They didn’t even ask how I was! I get a, ‘Well, you’re alright now, right? So anyway.’ That’s it! That’s what I get! I gave that damn company my time, my energy, extra time, weekends, late hours, neglected my body and sleep, gave them my very soul and for what? FOR WHAT?!”

She was back to pacing. “I swear to God, they act like they can’t do a thing without me, but if I died they’d have me replaced in a week. I swear, unless I’m slaving away for that bastard, I’m nothing to them, nobody. After all this, after all I’ve given them, I’m back to just being Rey Nobody.” She paused with her hand to her face.

Ben looked up at her. “Not to me.”

Her hand fell away, anger softening into the sweetest smile. “Wish I worked for you.”

Ben shifted with a shy smile. “Well, that makes two of us.”

Rey plopped into a chair and held her head in her hands, quiet for some time. Ben took the opportunity to butter one slice of bread, put preserves on another, and slide it over to her. She looked up at him, her eyes still a bit biting, but it was clearing. Then they softened into gratitude. Ben just shrugged and took his dishes to the sink.

He gave her the quiet space she needed, heard her chomping on the bread, and just went about taking care of the kitchen until she was ready to do whatever: talk, walk, curl upon on the couch.

Finally she plopped against the backrest. “I’m sorry you had to see me like that. That’s corporate me, the one that has to fight for everything.”

Ben grinned. “Reminded me of attorney Mama. Don’t worry about it. That ain’t nothing I ain’t used to.”

“I hope I didn’t creep you out. I’m not…I’m not always like that. That’s not who I want to be. I just…it’s who I have to be when I’m in that environment, but I’m just so much angrier than usual. At them.”

Ben turned and sat, listening.

She sighed and looked at him with such tired eyes. “I’m used to a world where everyone’s out for themselves. Just like my job, just like my boss, only interested in what they can get out of someone. I’ve seen fistfights erupt over parking spaces, seen people needing help and so many just walk by or they’re busy filming it. Yeah, others step in, but it’s so few. There’s so many people where I come from, and the ratio of who helps to who doesn’t is…it’s fractions, decimals. It’s ugly Ben, so damn ugly.” She tossed her hands up. “Then I come here, and people are giving me their clothing and shoes, doctor treating us for free just because we helped her, everyone looking out for each other, and I realize how ugly my world has become. Ugly. I know…if I hadn’t come out here, and this flood thing hadn’t happened, I would have been a different person on the phone. I would have expected him to be apathetic to what happened to me. I probably wouldn’t have even been angry, well, less angry I guess. But it was the comparison. Poe and Finn, Amilyn, Hux and Rose, Dr. Phasma, everyone we’ve met so far, they _cared_. They gave a damn. They gave, of themselves, of what they had. And my boss? Takes. Just takes.” She shook her head. “It couldn’t have been more clear than now.”

Ben didn’t know what to say. “I’m sorry. No one…should ever treat you like that. You are worth so much more than that.”

Rey huffed. “You barely know me.”

“Maybe not, but I see you. And I value you.”

Such soft vulnerability fell into her eyes. “Really?”

Ben nodded. “Maybe it’s only been a few days, but it’s a few of the best days I’ve had in my life.”

She snorted. “Taking care of a walking mess?”

“More like…sharing my life with someone who appreciates my world the way I do.”

That did something. A sparkle of wetness rimmed her eyes even as she smiled. She shook her head and stood with a deep breath. “So, boss, what do we do on this farm of yours?”

Ben chuckled. “You are not a hired hand, and you don’t need to do a thing while you’re staying here.”

She put her hands on her hips, chin up, defiant against a force only she could see. “Well maybe I want to. I don’t know how long we’ll be together before the bridges come back up, but until then, I want to know this world of yours. Really know it. Pretend I am a hired hand and let me work beside you.”

Ben sighed. “You don’t have to—”

“No, I want to, end of discussion. So, let’s make this happen.”

Again that hardass stubbornness that made his mother a force to be reckoned with either in a courtroom or in the business of running the farm. And just like back then, he had no choice but to agree. “Well alright then.”


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> As their time together draws toward its close, Ben treats Rey to the magic of the land. But there's more magic to be found with each other.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Do you like smut? Well each of our final three chapters will be steeeeeamy!

The days became a blur of activity. Rey wanted to learn everything there was to know about dairy farming, and Ben tried not to read too much into it. But why else if not because she planned on staying? Pure curiosity? Just to be a helping hand?

He did ask once why she was so curious about it, and she only answered, “Why not?” Whatever her reasons, she wanted to keep them to herself.

The power came back on two days later, and Rey got heavily invested in his business management. He’d kept the same type of records his mother kept, one of the most beautiful spreadsheets he’d ever seen and could never replicate, but Rey felt he should upgrade one day to a system designed for his industry.

Well maybe, but he didn’t exactly make a fortune on dairy farming, and it just was not on the financial horizon. But she seemed to have a lot of great ideas about it and other innovations.

Almost as if she planned to see them through. To stay.

The bridges were still taking forever, but they saw Poe, Finn, Amilyn, Hux, and Rose a few times. Rose sent over a knitted alpaca hat and even brought one of the animals over to show Rey behind their newly erected fence. Rey was instantly in love, with both the alpaca and the hat. It had flaps to cover her ears and tie strings.

One evening, they sat on the back porch huddled together with a cup of hot mulled apple cider. There was a nip in the air for early October, and Rey was wearing the new hat.

“Rose should really sell these. They’re magnificent. So soft and made with love.”

“She does,” Ben responded. “In fact, from late spring until November, we all rent a good length of space at the farmer’s market in Honesdale. I got my dairy and eggs, Hux has his meat, Finn and Poe sell fresh breads along with their specialty vegetables, I bring over Amilyn’s preserves when she has too many and sell those for her, and Rose sells her knitted stuff.”

Rey smiled so broadly in the dying light. “That’s so precious. You just all do this together like that. I love it.”

“Sometimes we can’t all make it at once, or we give each other breaks and man the other booths besides our own. Farming’s hard work, and sometimes you may want two days off instead of one, not that there’s ever really a day off, but I try to scale back on Sunday at least. But sometimes we all just need a little extra break, you know? So we give that to each other.”

Rey sipped her cider, so darn content it warmed his heart as he drank in every line of her lovely face. “How much does Rose charge for something like this? The hat?”

Ben took in a breath. “Oh, I don’t know, but I think she charges maybe ten bucks for the scarves.”

The incredulous look on Rey’s face made him giggle. “Ten bucks?! Is she out of her mind?!”

“That too little or too much?”

“Way too little!”

“Well, not around here. Most of us are farming or hunting folk, not quite Manhattan money.” He smiled and sipped his own cider.

She pointed at her head. “I could easily get ninety dollars for this hat. Way more. Celebs will pay through the nose for just the bragging rights of owning a family farm, hand-knitted, hand-sheared alpaca hat of this quality. Tell you what, when I get back, I’m going to go through my contacts and make that girl a mint.”

 _When I get back_. That hit him right in the chest.

“Hell, I can get celebrities to come to your farmer’s market. All those veggies Finn and Poe grow? Something new and exciting? They eat that up! Literally!”

Ben couldn’t help but laugh.

“I mean, I don’t know if I could get them to come themselves, but they’ll send their assistants easily for striped tomatoes and purple cauliflower.”

Ben sat back and smiled despite what she previously said. “Well, that would be kind of you. Poe won’t shut up about celebrities. He’d be all over that.”

“Why does that not surprise me?”

They both shared a chuckle, then Ben pointed toward the valley between the mountains. “Here it comes, see? That sliver of light?”

Rey set down her cup and snuggled in next to Ben. That nip in the air tickled at their noses. The light breeze tossed the scents of wood smoke and fallen leaves their way. Well, if Rey was going to leave, then he was going to enjoy every second with her, make memories to carry him through the cold winter ahead.

Her eyes brightened as the moon rose, not quite full but getting there, like a rounded bowl stacked high with rice. It always seemed to move so fast on the horizon, eerie almost, and before he knew it, it lifted above the mountain range. Bright gold reflected in her hazel eyes as she watched with the prettiest smile on her face.

Rey inhaled and basked in the soft light. “You know, I’ve seen the moon rise many times. Hoboken’s right on the Hudson River there, so I can get a good view. And yet…” She shook her head. “This is the most magnificent I’ve ever seen it. It’s alive out here. It’s alive with the land. It’s real and wild, raw. No noise or light pollution, no smog or whatever. Just pure. Everything is…just so pure out here.” She turned to him, meeting his eyes. “Like you.”

Ben lowered his eyes and smiled, feeling unusually bashful. “Now you know I ain’t pure. You heard my story.”

Her pale-gold illuminated face turned serious. “But you are. In everything you are, everything you do. So what if you have a past? So what if you have flaws? Your heart? It’s pure, the purest I’ve ever seen. The whole…lot of you out here, there’s a love I don’t see enough of, and it’s beautiful.”

With the moon glowing against her skin, the reflection in her eyes, there was only one response that he could give. “You’re beautiful.” He froze as soon as he said it, kicking himself and regretting it instantly, waiting for her to back off and return things to their platonic state.

Her arm came out from beneath the blanket, and when her cold fingertips touched his cheek, he felt his heart stop. Moments later her lips were on his, and it took a few moments before he could register that yes, she was kissing him. Yes, this was happening! Yes, she…

She felt it too.

Ben sunk his fingers into the hair at the nape of her neck, where it spread from beneath the fuzzy alpaca hat, and pulled her closer. Oh such sweet joy, such perfection, bathed in the crisp autumn air, lit by the rising moon, he kissed the woman he had done nothing but fall in love with the moment he pulled her out of that raging river.

She parted with a few softer pecks and remained just outside his lips, her breath caressing his skin. “I hope that was okay.”

Okay? Was she serious? “It’s all I’ve ever been wanting, all this time.” He wrapped his arms around her and pulled her into another kiss, holding her close, holding her like he’d been aching to all that time.

God, if only she’d stay. He wanted a life with her. He really did. Knowing she felt the same way, it turned everything around. Ben Solo could finally have hope, and if he was with her, he knew he’d be on the right path whatever may come.

That night, they didn’t lie down back to back. This time they started in each other’s arms, just like that first night, but out of love instead of terror. And as he held her warm body against his, he drank every drop of it, hoping and praying it was forever, but claiming every last bit of it for his memories if it wasn’t.

Late into the night, he woke to go to the bathroom. But on the way back, through the window, he saw the last hint of silver fall behind the mountains. He leaned toward the window to double check the sky and made a firm decision.

“Sweetheart,” he whispered, gently shaking her shoulder.

Rey sprung awake, eyes wide, panic gripping her voice. “What’s happening?!”

“Sh sh sh, nothing bad, nothing bad hon. I know it’s late, or early depending on how you look at it, but I want to show you something outside.”

She frowned, still so sleepy. “Outside?”

“Yeah. I got a nice warm coat waiting for you. Promise you’ll thank me.

“Step down, good, now down again.” Ben held Rey’s hand tightly as he led her down the stairs illuminated by a red LED flashlight.

“Really, Ben, why can’t I open my eyes?”

“Just trust me.”

On the grass he led her a little farther until they reached a nice, open spot. There he tossed down the thick blanket and led her to its edge. “Okay, I need you to get down—”

“On the grass?”

“There’s a blanket. Just kneel on down, that’s it, just got to lie down and wait for me.”

“That…sounds kinky, and it’s way too cold out here for anything like that.”

Ben burst into laughter. “Oh goodness no, sure as hell not out here on a night like this. Hang on.” He scrambled down and lay beside her. “Okay, open.”

Her gasp was precious, and he knew he’d made the right decision. “Ben! It’s…beautiful.”

“You ever seen the Milky Way before?”

“Only in the store with the rest of the junk I shouldn’t be eating.”

Ben chuckled. “Well, I thought about what you said, about the light pollution and smog, thought maybe you ain’t seen nothing like this yet, being so close to the city and all.”

“Oh Ben, I…I’ve never seen anything like this in my life. We get to see like five stars on a good night. Never…never anything like this. Oh Ben…oh my God…”

Her smile was nothing short of exquisite, her eyes sparkling beneath the dusting of starlight above. Ben wrapped the far end of the blanket over her and snuggled close to keep her warm.

Rey stuck her finger out, mouth agape. “What is that? Is that a UFO?!”

Ben chuckled with his nose up to her ear. “Satellite, actually. Quite a few of them up there. They kinda go then stop, sometimes disappear altogether if they get in the Earth’s shadow.”

“You can see _satellites_? My God…” She shook her head. “This is incredible. It’s all so…so beautiful.” She swallowed. “You just have this every night to yourself, don’t you? How do you even sleep knowing this is out here?”

“Well, I suppose I grew up here, just used to it. But when your life has been devoid of beauty for so long…” He eyed her up and down. “…when you finally get to see it, it’s like your heart just lights up all over again.”

He heard her sniffle and wondered if it was the cold nipping her nose or something else. “I came out here for this, stuff like this. But it was you who gave me everything and so much more. This was better than any vacation I could have imagined.” She chuckled. “And I only had to nearly die for it to happen.” She swallowed. “Sometimes I wonder if I did die, and this is just heaven.”

Ben couldn’t stop the breath that fell out of him. Her heaven had been with him! “Sweetheart, you’re very much alive.” He poked her belly. “See, right here, nice and warm.”

She giggled and wriggled away from his tickles. Then she sighed, still smiling. “Then maybe I was reborn. Into a life…I was always meant to be living.” The last words were so soft he could barely make them out, as if they weren’t for his ears. But he heard them, and he held them in his heart, wishing, praying it meant she’d stay.

Then she gasped, a huge smile on her face. “Was that a shooting star? Did I just see a shooting star?!”

“Oh yeah, we see them a lot up here. Think it’s from the Orionid meteor shower going on right now.”

“Make a wish!” She bit her lip, so damn adorable.

He knew exactly what to wish for.

#

“Solo!” Hux squawked over the phone. “Guess what? They’re putting up a temporary bridge at my place right now!”

Ben both brightened and sunk, if that was possible. He had deliveries to make, but that also meant his time with Rey was drawing to a close. “Oh. Good news.”

“They’re fixing to pull Rey’s car out later today. I told them I’d call you so you could get the report and whatnot that she needs.”

“Oh, yeah good. Good.”

“When they get the bridge up, both of y’all gonna take your asses over here for dinner, you hear me?”

“Loud and clear. Let me know when the tow folks are ready so we can be there.”

“You got it.”

Bridge…

He’d have to tell Rey the “great” news.

Ben found her outside riding Threepio, and damn if that wasn’t a vision to behold. Kaydel liked him but was more interested in getting _out_ than living the rural life. She never quite gave Threepio the attention he deserved, but Rey made up for it in droves the past week and a half.

The golden horse with the pale mane trotted over, Rey a smiling sunshine riding on his back. Ben looked up at her and fuck, he was so much in love with her. He hated what he was about to say.

“Hux tells me they’re getting a temporary bridge put up by his place right now.”

She didn’t say anything at first, but he swore her smile shifted from genuine happiness to feigned relief. “Oh, that’s great!”

“Yeah, um…well, he invited us for dinner whenever it’s complete. Guess it’s a good thing. I got deliveries to make. Hard enough to make a living without a hurricane getting in the way.”

“Can I come? When you do the deliveries?”

“Oh, well, sure, but I thought you were itching to get back. Got that big ole job of yours to get back to, right?”

Rey snorted. “They don’t have to know the bridges are back. What’s a little more vacation? After how those idiots acted, they deserve a reminder of how important I really am to them.”

 _You’re more important to me. You always will be._ “Well sure, that would be nice. I’ll let you know, probably won’t be today, I’m sure they got their work cut out for them, what with the cuts into the land and all.”

“Oh good, then no rush? I can keep riding?”

Ben smiled. “All you want, sweetheart. You look good on a horse you know.”

She winked. “So do you.”

As he watched her ride off across the pasture, he knew exactly what he had to do next.

The wind raced through his raven locks as Whisper thundered beneath him. There was nothing like bringing his stallion to full gallop, and in those moments he understood the daredevil side of his father. He raced past Rey and Threepio and then slowed a little to egg them on to follow. Rey wasn’t nearly that experienced with a horse yet to go “Ridin’ Solo” like he did, but she edged Threepio into a nice canter.

She pulled up beside him with a scrunchy-nosed grin. “You know you look magnificent riding that beautiful horse all wild and fast like that.”

Ohhhh, no one ever called him magnificent. He couldn’t stop the blush rising to his cheeks if he tried and hoped she’d think it was the nippy wind. “Why thank you. And you are just a ray of sunshine on Threepio there.”

“Oh ha ha.”

“What?”

“ _Rey_ of sunshine?”

Ben giggled. “Well, if the name fits, who am I to argue?”

She paused, pondering. “The best man I ever met in my life.”

The smile nearly dropped from his face from the utter surprise mixed with awe. Did he really have to bring her home soon? “Rey, I…” He couldn’t even respond, just broke into a full-blown smile.

“I love your smile.” With that, she kicked Threepio into gear again and trotted off.

“You’re the only reason I have it,” he spoke after the trail she left behind. With a rub and pat on Whisper’s neck, he cried out to urge his horse to follow.

The Pennsylvania State Trooper handed Rey a note containing a case number. The police report would be available to request by mail in fifteen days. She sighed at that, but the officer said the case number should be sufficient to get whatever she needed to replace her missing items.

Ben held her as they watched the silver hatchback being pulled up the bank. Brown water dribbled from its front end, and the interior was nothing but mud and other detritus.

Rey was oddly detached as the tow truck hauled it up. It wasn’t like the first time she saw the car, that panic still gripping her. Perhaps she was finally letting go, working past that horrific incident.

Ben? He stupidly let his mind drift way farther than it should have. For a moment he imagined them opening the car door and seeing mud pouring out to reveal a body with long brown hair.

He had to turn his head to make sure she was still there, still in his arms, real and not somehow trapped inside that tomb. So he buried his lips and nose in her hair and just inhaled before giving her a kiss. _You’re safe. You’re here. You’re alive. Nothing else matters._

The PENNDOT workers estimated the temporary bridge would be ready for travel in three more days.

Three more days…

What would happen then? He had to bring her back home, regardless of how badly he wanted her to stay. Even if she asked him to marry her tomorrow, she’d still need her items, her documents, all those things. Besides, bringing her home didn’t mean she’d be gone forever, right?

Right?

That night she got an eyeful of Leia’s cast iron cookware and made a firm declaration. “I’m going to cook you my signature dish! It’s simple yet perfect.”

“You really don’t have to, sweetheart. You know I don’t mind cooking for you.”

“It will give you something to remember me by.” She winked, meaning to be playful, but it didn’t hit its mark. Ben just felt sick. It was good she took over his kitchen. He hoped he’d have an appetite by the end.

“A little butter on the pan, then you season the breasts with a sprinkle of salt, some onion powder, garlic powder…” With each declaration she added the respective dried herb. “…basil, thyme, oregano, and rosemary. Then we—” She tossed the chicken breasts into the pan, seasoned side down. “—season the other side exactly the same. A little browning on both sides, then add the lid and finish in the oven for a half hour. You will love it, I promise!”

Ben really tried to put on his happiest face. “Sounds scrumptious. Let me at least get the salad going—”

Rey lightly smacked his hand. “No touchy! Let me do this for you. For all you’ve done for me, let me make you my masterpiece.”

Ben sighed and smiled. “Alright, you win this time.”

She gave him the most precious wrinkle-nosed chuckle and tossed the pasta in the boiling water. Damn, it had been so long since anyone took care of him, he decided to let himself enjoy it.

Only it would be even more painful when she inevitably had to leave.

A half hour later, Ben was in culinary heaven. The breasts cooked into their own brown sauce in the oven, and dripping over the pasta it was absolutely scrumptious.

He shook his head and wiped his mouth. “Rey, my God, this has to be the most incredible chicken I’ve ever tasted.”

“Isn’t it? I really don’t have time to cook with working late all the time, and this is so simple, plus I can put it away and have it for lunch the next day, assuming I have time to eat.”

He grinned. “You have one fast-paced life there, dear.”

“Yep.” She paused. “You know I…thought coming out here I’d be bored, so used to the fast pace and everything going on around me, everything so available. And for the first two days, I kind of was. I was really trying to work it out of my system, but, well, the flood took care of all that. But being here…” She sighed and looked out the window. It was dark, the moon was already casting its beams across the farm. “Once I calmed down from the panic, I felt like I just fell into this pace. The pace of the land. It has a different heartbeat out here, you know? In the city it’s a perpetual adrenaline rush, but out here, it just…beats, calls you to its rhythm.”

Ben wiped his mouth after chewing his salad. “How’s it gonna feel to be back in that rush again?”

She shook her head, so distant. “I don’t know. I really don’t.”

And then they changed the subject.

Ben washed the dishes while she showered, and then it was time to curl up on the couch before the fire like their usual nightly ritual. Before Rey’s arrival, he used the fireplace often, but not all the time like this. Now, with her there, it was like his house just needed to be filled with warmth and light to match her energy.

Plus she adored it, and that was reason enough.

The movie they threw on had all its good parts shown in the trailer, which left nothing for the rest of it. So they did a running commentary like Mystery Science Theater 3000. Ben hadn’t laughed like that in years, and Rey just fed him more and more until his gut hurt.

And then she suddenly grew quiet. He turned to see if anything was wrong, but she was just looking at him as if he was the most exquisite creature she’d ever seen. Oh he wished he could tell her just what that did to him. Kaydel never really looked at him as all that much. Maybe that’s how she really felt underneath it all. Maybe that’s why it was so easy to leave him for something “better” in the city. But Rey? She made him feel beautiful with just her gaze alone.

Her arm slipped out from beneath the blanket, cupped behind his neck, and pulled him in for a kiss he felt to his very toes. Ben shifted to wrap his arms around her, pulling her close so he could sink into the bliss of that heavenly delirium. This sensuous, soft, spicy, sunshine of a woman just fell into his life and turned it into a paradise he never wanted to give up.

Rey left his lips but not his eyes as she shifted on the couch. At first he wasn’t sure what she was doing, but then she turned to face him, one leg stretching over his hip, and sank right into his lap.

Ohhhh fuck… He tried to keep himself calm, tried to still the increasing breaths pouring out of his chest. But let’s be honest. It had been a _long_ time, and he had done nothing but sleep next to her every night for the past week and a half, painfully controlling himself, trying to fire a quick one in the shower while staying silent since she was always hanging outside the door.

Now she was wrapped around his hips, her hands sinking into his hair. Her pupils were wide and ravenous as she descended from above like a hawk and plunged her kiss so deep into his mouth he let out a cry of urgency and delight. Her kisses were fire and bite, like that furious creature that screamed on the phone, but the hands that roved him had no malice. His giant hands spread the expanse of her back, and he was tempted to slide them right to her rear, but he didn’t want to make assumptions, not just yet.

Maybe it was just a kiss. A wild, passionate, fiery, feral kiss.

Then those hips of hers shifted and ohhhh she just rode the entire length of his swollen hardness, prompting a grunt and growl of desire from deep within his chest.

Could have been a fluke, but she did it again, and that was it. He’d held back for so long, and she seemed quite firm in letting him know she felt it too.

His hands slid down to that rounded peach rear of hers and squeezed. Her soft little cry, buried deep in his mouth, made his achingly hardened manhood twinge. Rey left his lips and arched her back, so feline and graceful. She pulled his giant T-shirt off her body, revealing a too-tight bra she must have gotten from Amilyn, and seemed all too relieved to unhook and let that fly. Her elegant breasts stood perky and precious, waiting for him, waiting for his affection.

Ben nuzzled around one, gracing his lips with her perpetual softness, before sliding his tongue up along every bump and ridge of her tightening peak. Hungry for her, he sucked her breast into his mouth and let his tongue massage every inch of her skin. Her fingers sunk into his hair while her hips gently rolled against him.

“Baby,” he said as he left that breast to the guardianship of his hand and focused on the other. He let the silken softness linger on his tongue, savoring the joy of having her, finally having her.

Her hands spread along his shoulders, his upper back, and down his arms. “Ever since I saw you come out of the shower that first day,” she said in such a purring, sultry voice that seemed unreal coming from her, “I’ve just wanted to touch you, touch all this.”

“You can touch me all you want,” he whispered against her breast and kissed it.

“I think I will.” She pulled him up to her mouth again, devouring him with a kiss that made him groan with utter, aching need as he shifted his hips against her. Then she brought her kisses to his cheeks, his head, his jaw, everything. Loving him, just loving him with sweet warm pecks that lit his soul.

Those kisses trailed to his neck, and he sucked in a breath as pleasurable tingles raced down his body. Oh, he was at her mercy now. He would do anything, give her anything, say anything, she only had to ask, and it was hers.

She grabbed his shirt and yanked it off as if she couldn’t remove it fast enough. With his upper body bared, her mouth delighted his shoulders, his arms, then down his chest, every part of him being loved by her, adored, treasured. No one ever made him feel like this. No one worshiped him like this, and it was heaven, glory.

Rey flicked her tongue at his nipples, making his manhood twinge for attention again, and she answered by rocking her hips against it, over and over until he tipped his head back and tried not to dig his fingers into her skin.

But then she left it cold and alone, but not him. Her kisses trailed down along his stomach, down, so far down to the point he bit his lip, unsure of what was to happen next. Whatever it was, he was sure he’d enjoy it. Her tongue wrestled with the hairs leading down to his waistline, and then she attacked his belt, unbuttoned and unzipped his pants.

His chest heaved with breaths and he gripped the pillows of the couch, wondering at what point he should offer the bedroom. Rey pried his pants open, and he lifted himself to let her do whatever it was she planned. When he finally sprung free of those restraints, he couldn’t help but watch as she grasped him in two hands. Her eyes met his, and in them was a joy he did not expect before her mouth opened, her tongue beckoning him once before her head dipped down and—

Ffffuuuuuuck…Ben groaned long and deep, eyes rolling back as he gripped the cushions of the couch, threatening to rip them apart. It had been so long, too long, way too long, and oh fuck it was just magic, pure magic. He tipped his head down to watch her, see her fluffy brown head bob up and down while her eyes never left his. Ben sunk his fingers into her hair, did his best to keep from nudging her into his own pace, and just delighted in the ultimate pleasure this precious woman brought into his life.

Then she lifted with one last, long lick from bottom to tip and climbed back up. But he couldn’t take her like this, not on the couch.

“You want to go to my bedroom?” he asked, aching for release, and they had barely gotten started.

“Yes,” she whispered. Rey stood and gripped the waistband of her pants, but he put a hand out to stop her as he sat forward.

“No baby, let me.” He ran his hands down her supple body, from her endlessly soft neck, down her chest, over her breasts, along her sides, and finally landing at her hips. Peeling her clothing away was like unwrapping the greatest gift he would ever receive.

“I’m a little unshaven,” she said with a giggle.

Ben shook his head. “You’re perfect just the way you are.” He leaned his nose into her triangular mound, breathing, allowing his hot breath to tease her awake.

“Thought we were going to your bedroom.”

“We are,” he murmured and reached out an exploratory tongue to test the waters. Rey sucked in a breath through her teeth and braced herself on his back. By her reaction, he knew he hit the right spot, the sweet spot, and gave her every little lick and suckle he could manage in this position. “Just warming you up. Giving you an appetizer.”

“Technically you’re eating the appetizer.”

He chuckled into her parted lips and ran his hand up her inner thigh. “After you got a few licks in for yourself.” Sliding a tongue from her crease on up, he stood slowly, taking detours for her nipples and neck, and ended with it sinking deep into her mouth. He shook himself out of his pants as did she, and then he hoisted her up around his hips, determined to carry his lovely to their destination.

His bed never looked so inviting, but not for the typical reason. He set her down onto the edge and loomed over her, his body dwarfing hers and urging her backwards. She inched back as if scooting from a ravenous wolf, but her eyes said she welcomed the impending attack.

He would eat her just like a good monster should.

Hoisting her legs on his shoulders, he dipped back in to continue his previous task. Now he could delight her with all the swirling licks, languishing suckles, and exploratory fingers that met no resistance as they slid in deep. The moment she gasped, he curled his fingers over and over, alternating with driving in and out of her. All the while he listened for her breaths, her sighs, every sound to mark what was working and what wasn’t.

And then came her siren call. “Ben…oh Ben…I need you. Oh fuck me, I need you so bad.”

Driven by her heat, her call, and her scent, he slipped out from under her knees and crawled up to face her once more, nose to nose, lips brushing against one another in a soft tease of connection.

With a deep sucking in of breath, Ben attacked her mouth and drove up between her widened legs that instantly hooked around his hips.

Feeling her heat, her sensuous heat calling to his throbbing appendage, he broke from her kiss to let out a swear. “Oh ffffuck, Rey. Shit, I don’t have anything. Fuck I don’t…I mean it’s been a long time…I never…fuck—”

Her mouth was back on his, her arms around his neck, her legs locked tight around him. She arched up, begging, nudging at his aching desire, inviting him with her slick heat.

“I don’t care,” she growled.

“Baby, are you sure? Don’t feel like—I don’t want you to do anything you don’t—”

“Ben, I want it.” When she arched again, pulling him in, he lost all sense of propriety.

With a thrust, he sunk into her. She gasped with the softest smile, eyes closed, drifting back as if she’d been begging for this all her life. He rolled his hips again, and again, filling her so deeply, sinking into perfection with every drive of his hips. His heavy breaths coursed over her cheek, while her soft panting, carrying the sweetest little cries, fell from her smiling lips.

God she was perfect, in every way perfect, everything about her, from her sharp mind to her sweet nature to her fighting spirit to this soft and incredible body, everything that was almost taken away from him.

How would he have lived without this perfection? How could he ever have a life without her in it?

Ben nuzzled into her neck, panting, swallowing, then kissing the ultra-soft skin so warm for him. “Baby, you’re so good,” he whispered. “So good. You feel so good.”

Her eyes alighted onto him and she smiled, enjoying, loving him with just the movement of her eyes alone. She slid her hands over his face, pushing his dangling hair back, then gripped it in her hands. “You’re so beautiful,” she whispered. “Everything. Everything about you.”

“So are you.” He possessed her with a kiss while her tight heat squeezed and gripped him, her hips reaching along with his rhythm. Such pure joy, such ecstasy, such absolute perfection.

Rey slid one leg down and pushed at his opposite shoulder. He wasn’t entirely sure what she was going for, but moved onto his side. There she kept the momentum going until he was on his back, and she loomed from above. Controlling the pace, mastering the dance, she rode his entire length with a skill that would have rivaled the best of the rodeo circuit. Her breasts bobbed in cadence, and he had to reach up to kiss and nip and lick them because they were just too beautiful to ignore.

Ben gripped her hips, trying to pretend he had some sort of control over the situation but clearly outdone by the master. Fuck, she was so good, and he flopped his head back and moaned in absolute delight. Swallowing, trying to come to his senses, he reached down and rubbed her clitoris just outside her folds of skin, up and down, shifting and adjusting until her smile and reddening cheeks told him he finally hit the right spot. So he gave it to her good, because she deserved it for being perfect in every way.

Rey slid along the length of him with such expertise, and he’d been denied so long that it took little to build toward the final conclusion. And that was a problem.

“Baby,” he moaned. “Oh baby, you feel so good. I don’t want you to stop but…I’m getting close. I can’t…I can’t pull out like this.”

She slowed down but kept going, and fuck it felt so damn good. “I don’t mind if you don’t.”

Part of him raised every consequence flag available, but she just felt so damn good the other part of him, the one that seemed to currently be in charge, just wanted to let it all go.

He didn’t want to stop. He didn’t want to ever stop.

“I know we shouldn’t but…fuck baby you feel so good…” He couldn’t fight it anymore and just let it go, let himself just bask in all its glory.

Then she stopped, slid off. He was both relieved and horrified, never wanting that incredible rapture to end until it reached its final conclusion. But then she scrambled over him, twisting, turning, adjusting, until her honeyed center loomed over his mouth and he felt wet heat slip over him once again.

Oh…oh holy fuck…

Her tongue flicked over his cock with every upward stroke, her hand controlling the massive beast he knew he was, and he knew what he had to do.

Ben lapped at her clit once more, one hand gripping her hips, fingers sliding in and out of her with absolutely no resistance. He felt the vibrations of her soft cry tickle his ultra sensitive appendage, adding a new dimension to the indescribable pleasure she launched at him.

Until finally it built again, built so high, but he couldn’t let it go, no, not yet. Not until she was fulfilled. So he focused on her pleasure, suckling at her and alternately flapping his tongue against her sweet sensitivity. The distraction worked to keep him at bay, but not for long, no, he was right at the door, not yet walking through, but right there.

Then he felt it, her long moaning cry of pleasure, felt her spasm against his fingers as moan turned into gasping cry that she held against his cock, vibrating against it while she still bobbed and licked even amid her own orgasm. And Ben finally let go, let himself be carried across the threshold. He cried out for the entire town of Walnut Grove to hear, his orgasm relentless and endless as she kept up her pace despite his explosion. He gasped and cried out again, over and over, as she kept him going, kept his completion running on and on until he thought he would shatter and go mad yet be thankful for every second of it.

And finally, when he felt like he had no breath left to give, she slipped ever so slowly off of him.

There he lay, gasping, hand draped on his chest while she gracefully clambered off of him and toward his side. There she fell into his arm, into his embrace, her sweaty head nuzzling into his equally dewy chest.

And he loved her. Love her endlessly, loved her beyond all sense and reason, to the endless stars and back, from the Pocono Mountains to the Hudson River.

Loved her. Held her and loved her. Loved his home with her in it. Loved his bed with her in it. Loved his life with her in it.

And yet didn’t feel right in saying it. It had barely been two weeks that they’d known each other. He knew what he felt, but he just couldn’t scare her off now when everything was so perfect. So he planted a kiss on her head, turned to wrap his other arm around her, and said the closest thing. “You are the greatest gift I’ve ever had in my life.”

And with her soft breath against his chest came her words: “You are perfection.”

Ben woke with a smile as the sun caressed Rey’s hair. Their naked bodies, pressed against one another, felt so warm and cozy in the crisp morning air. If he could be granted a wish, perhaps on another shooting star, it would be that he could wake to this every day for the rest of his life.

#

Three days. How could there only be three more days left?

If he had to face it, then he was going to enjoy it.

Honestly, he felt so good that first day, the time limit was just some nag at the back of his head. He rolled around with Rey a little, playfully nipped and tickled, making nudging promises for later, after the farm chores were done.

And Rey stuck beside him to lift the burden. They made calls to customers, the bottling system moved in full force, butter swirled into their tubs, and eggs were collected and packaged. He’d usually have his farm hands to help him, but the storm had stranded them too, and if he had been stuck doing this by himself, he would have collapsed at the end of the day.

But with Rey beside him, he swore it moved even faster than with more experienced hands. Maybe it was her eagerness, or maybe it was just the fact that he enjoyed her so much the work breezed by.

In fact, day two left them with free time, so he took her to a special spot after checking whether it would be okay for her: his favorite hidden waterfall.

It rivaled some of the best in public parks or even private waterfall tourist destinations, but since it was on private property, you had to know the secret path to find it. The climb down was a little precarious seeing as the creek wasn’t immune to the devastating floods that hit the region, but once they got down to the spot, they could see it in all its magnificent glory. The muddy torrents had long gone, and in its place was the crisp, clear waters falling white and roaring down layers and layers of rock.

Rey smiled as the water spray lifted on the wind to sprinkle their faces, cool and refreshing after the climb down. She nudged the water with the tip of her boot and giggled. “I’ve never seen water so perfectly clear before.”

“Straight from the mountains. We used to come down here in the summer and just have a day of it. You had to be respectful, you know? It’s someone else’s land, but if you didn’t start no trouble or wreck the place, no one ever came out to bother you.”

Rey leaned her head against his shoulder, and he pulled her in close. “Seems such a shame to own this, keep it hidden from the rest of the world. It’s so beautiful.”

He wanted to tell her he felt the same way about her, but when he tilted his head down, she was looking up at him as if to say the same thing. So instead he smiled, kissed her, and rubbed her arm as he regarded the falls once more. “Well, for right now it’s ours. Just ours.”

On the way back they stopped by Poe and Finn’s. Poe had Rey wrapped around a wine bottle while the two made pumpkin pies from the supply out of their extensive gardens. Ben helped Finn with a few chores that needed an extra set of rugged hands. When they came back inside, Poe and Rey were laughing like old friends and the house smelled scrumptious.

They brought a pie home as well as cider from the guys’ apple orchard. Rey still could not get over how sweet and crisp fresh cider tasted and vowed to never buy from a supermarket again. With goodies and a large pumpkin, seeing as it was almost Halloween, they spent the evening carving the most lopsided face and decided to make it into a monster instead.

Laughter. So much warmth and laughter. When was the last time Ben’s home had seen this? Felt like this? Was it with Kaydel? Not really. She performed the actions but was never fully into it, so much more interested in what was happening on her phone. Mama? Oh, they stopped celebrating “lesser” holidays years prior, before…

…before he had his stint as Kylo. He supposed that changed a lot of feelings about celebrations and childhood.

So it had to be before then, when it was the three of them. When Dad was actually home actively working the farm with Mama, when the bright eyes of a child still saw the magic in everything.

Now here he was again, after all these years, lighting a candle and watching their monster come alive.

“This pumpkin is really ugly,” he said, watching the flame flicker inside.

Rey laughed into his shoulder. “Then it’s perfect! It will scare away the ghosts and spooky dudes that try to haunt us.”

“Spooky dudes?” He burst into laughter along with her and had to pull her in for a hug. Rey made the magic come home again, made the Sky Walker Farm come alive.

#

“Hope you ain’t made no dinner plans,” Hux squawked over the phone on the afternoon of the third day. “No shit, they finished early. You’re free! And the first thing you’re doing is coming over because Rosie’s already got a roast going.”

Ben could barely breathe. “Oh…yeah, um…of course, we’ll be there.”

“Poe and Finn is coming too. They’re bringing Mrs. Holdo.”

“Oh perfect, that sounds nice. Rey really likes them. Yeah, we’ll see you later.” Ben hung up the phone and just held it, staring at it.

The gate was finally open. Rey was going to be freed from Walnut Grove.

He licked his lips before speaking to her. “Bridge is back. Hux wants us over for dinner tonight.”

She seemed excited but in an oddly detached way. “Oh. Oh that’s so good. You can…make deliveries now. And I can finally hug Rose and Hux. Pet her alpacas.”

She was avoiding it too. The hard truth. The reality of what this meant. Her little vacation was over. Her getaway from the city, the escape to heal from a stressful, busy life. Time was closing in.

“Yeah um…” He breathed. “Still some time before we get there. Maybe we can get some local deliveries done before then. You can come out in the refrigerated truck.” He smiled as if this meant something, so desperate for anything to hide the dread punching him in the chest.

“Oh, yeah, sure. I’d love to.”

And so they loaded, including extra to bring to the Hux farm afterward. Ben checked the maps on his phone and found a clear path to about three customers they could deliver to before needing to arrive at Hux’s. Rey rode along beside him, quiet but making light conversation. Her eyes were fixed outside the windows, taking in landscape she hadn’t gotten to see before. The only hiccup was traveling over that temporary bridge. It was loud, not quite smooth, and her knuckles turned white as she squeezed his hand, her eyes closed.

Once the gravel gave way to real pavement again, she breathed, flashed him a smile of gratitude, and turned her attention to the landscape once more.

His customers loved her.

And it was hard not to. She had a charm that was infectious and knew how to talk to people. Like his mother but different, so much warmer, that even the old timers patted him on the back and remarked how much delight she brought to the visit. She even made a few suggestions to place items that would move inventory faster, catching the customer’s eye.

And every one of them gave him the same look: she’s a keeper.

He wanted to. Really, he did.

Hux’s was exactly how Ben expected it to go. Rose welcomed Rey with open arms and stole her away to pet the alpacas and see everything. Hux got a closer look at Rey, pulled Ben aside and suggested ways to kidnap and keep her so she’d never have to cross back into Jersey again. Then Poe, Finn, and Amilyn arrived, and the reverie rose even higher.

Poe had the women full of wine, alpaca yarn spread out between the four of them. Rose taught Rey how to knit, and they all chatted like they had known each other for ages. Hux took Finn and Ben out in the back to shoot at cans, the two of them climbing on his ass to not let Rey go.

Of course he didn’t want to. But even if it was temporary (he hoped,) she still had to go home and get her life back in order.

Dinner was superb. Rose knew country cooking like the back of her hand for someone who had moved out here in her late teens. The meat was tender, the vegetables from Finn and Poe’s was divine, the wine Poe kept flowing free, and dessert existed courtesy of Ben’s milk and eggs with the addition of Amilyn’s preserves.

They celebrated late into the night and Ben was…happy. So happy, in fact, that upon leaving, Hux told him it was the first time he’d seen Ben smile like that since they were kids. “Don’t let her go,” Hux warned. “Get her shit back in Jersey and bring her back home with you. Don’t be stupid.”

“I can’t make her do anything she don’t want to do,” he told his oldest friend.

“Idiot, she fucking loves you, too. Any fool can see that. Don’t let the city swallow her up. Rosie told me all about it. It’s a different life out there, different world, busy and distracting. You get sucked into things and before you know it, your entire life’s gone by. Rey belongs here, with you, and I bet she damn well knows it, too. So don’t let her get swallowed up. You didn’t in the flood, don’t do it when you take her back.”

Ben just breathed as he watched Rey hug Rose, Finn, Amilyn, and then Poe who rocked her back and forth and said something that made her giggle and blush.

“Hux, I want nothing more.”


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It's time to bring Rey home, to a world he can't begin to understand. The question is, will she come back?

The next day had to be spent making the deliveries Ben had been behind on. Rey understood and was glad for it. But eventually, they had to make the plan as to when they could drive back to New Jersey.

At the end of the work day, she made the phone call to her job.

Tomorrow. They would head back tomorrow.

Ben spent the day with his stomach in knots, his heart pounding, feeling like he couldn’t breathe at times. It was almost over. The magic was almost over.

Did she love him? Did she feel the same way he did? Would she really want to stay if he asked her to? Or at least come back?

He didn’t want to ask. She was already not herself, sweet but closed down, just like the day after the rescue. It wasn’t his place to make her decisions that much harder, to sway her. If she loved him, she would find her way back to him. And if this was all just a fling, a desperate storm victim finding solace with her savior, then…

No, he didn’t want to even consider it.

They ate leftovers, finished the last of the pumpkin pie, then Rey drank enough wine to knock herself out earlier than usual. So he carried her to the bed, lay down beside her for perhaps the last time, and cuddled her to his chest.

Morning came. Chores were spent in mostly silence, all except Rey talking to Threepio and wiping her eyes. Ben wanted to take the pain away so badly. She didn’t deserve to have tears in her eyes, ever. But reality couldn’t be denied.

Sucking in his breath, he made her the best breakfast he could muster, and she let herself relax and enjoy it. For that meal at least, they were back to being a couple, two as one, bound by a storm that nearly killed her and could easily have taken him, too.

She said it would be a two and a half to three hour drive to get to Hoboken, and he decided a shower was in order if they were going to be in close quarters that long after the morning chores. In the midst of rinsing away the suds, he felt a cool breeze waft through the curtains and wondered what that was about. Then the curtain shifted aside, and there Rey stood, bare and glorious.

“Can I join you?”

He would never refuse her. “Of course,” he said, water dripping off his lips.

The old farmhouse still had its clawfoot bathtub, to which they added a showerhead. So when Rey climbed in, she had to hoist her leg up high, giving him a view that made him smile along with his little friend. She stepped in close, pressing her cool body against his hot one, and he adjusted to let the water warm her.

He would have offered the soap, but she didn’t seem interested in that. Her eyes were on him, solely on him, and honestly, he stopped caring about getting clean the moment she pulled aside that curtain. Ben arched down and kissed her, sinking it in deep while hot water skated across their skin. Her smooth body slid against his, closer, as if trying to touch everything she could to him. He grasped her face to plunder her mouth, then had to wrap his arms around her body just to feel her, every bit of her.

Rey took those same deep, licking kisses along his cheek and down his neck, paying such sweet attention to the spot that made his body tingle. He breathed beside her ear, his chest broadening and filling with every intake, while he savored delight for hopefully not the last time.

Ben couldn’t help the rise of his aching manhood that would never get enough of her if they fucked endlessly into perpetuity. She must have felt him, for she parted her silken thighs just enough to let him slip and seek. Surrounded by pillowy delight, he had to arch and angle to seek her heat. Ah, but water was such a fickle friend, and he needed her slick to take in his massiveness.

Ben knelt, grasping her thighs with his arms, rear with his hands, and beneath the perpetual rain of the shower, he slipped beneath and lapped at her beauty. Her soft gasp set the tone, her gentle moans spurred him onward, while her hand sunk into his sopping wet hair.

He slipped his long fingers up along the silken smoothness of her inner thigh and sunk his fingers in deep, playing and testing along the way. Rey gasped when he tickled her most sensitive spot, so he kept his attention there, delighting in her sounds, how her body writhed and arched, aching for him.

Yes, he wanted her to ache for him, now and forever. Let her remember how he made her body feel when she’s in Hoboken. Let her ache from afar and know that only he can ease her perpetual hunger.

Then maybe she’d come home.

Ben stood and whipped his hair back, heavy, drenched locks casting an arc of water overhead. There he sought her once again, his endless hardness seeking the slick trail he left for his friend to follow home. Fuzzy curls, softness, then heat and oh, he slipped in without an ounce of resistance this time. Rey hoisted a leg over his hip, bracing on the edge of the tub, and he thrust inside of her while watching how the water danced off her pink skin. God, she felt so good. He would never get enough, and he hoped she felt it too.

Gripped hard by lust that grew even more urgent, he slipped out and motioned. “Turn around.” He sucked in a breath. “Hands on the tub.”

She followed with a sly smile, and that round, juicy peach of an ass rose high. He grasped that perfection and sought her swollen heat once more, sinking in deep until she gasped and cooed. This time he was merciless as he pounded her from behind, and by her desperate cries, he knew he was hitting every right spot she owned.

He wanted her to feel him, know him, forever remember how her body ached for him, needed him, and would never be the same without him. A little arrogance on his part, maybe even a little bit of Kylo seeping in, but he had to show her he could give her everything, tender sweet lovemaking and pounding, vicious, screaming ferocity.

Then he yanked out of her, so close, too close. If she was going to come back to him, he wanted it to be because she wanted to, not because she had to, not that they weren’t already taking tons of risks as it was. Before he could do another thing, Rey spun and dipped to her knees. Her mouth possessed him, and he swore she nearly took it to the hilt this time. Her head bobbed fast and furious, trying to match the intensity he had given her, and he just lost it, lost all control. Crying out with one hand in her hair, the other bracing the wall behind the curtain, he let the exquisite tide wash over him, and damn if she didn’t just keep him going, keep him roaring, keep taking him across the threshold of ecstasy again and again.

“Fuck!” he cried out as she finally slipped off, sat back on her heels. He panted while he braced himself against the wall, feeling like he would crumple at the knees any moment. But he wasn’t done. Absolutely not.

Ben cupped her jaw and led her to standing once more, intensity in his eyes burrowing into her. He sank a deep kiss into her mouth, then with a breath and a swallow, he nodded toward the side of the tub. “Leg up. Let me see that pretty pussy of yours.”

Now she was the one bracing her hand on the wall while she opened up wide for him. He wasn’t going to let her go home without remembering exactly how he felt against her southernmost regions. Attacking her plump lower lips, he suckled, flapped, and teased while his fingers curled up deep inside her in a maddening pace. Oh he must have taken her so close before, because it wasn’t long before she clamped her fingers into his hair and used it to hold on while she screamed and cried out, near sobbing in an endless wave of rapture.

Still on his knees, he looked up at her while she smiled down at him.

_Remember me. Please remember me. Remember this and never let go. I’ll be waiting here for you to come back, to give you this over and over. Remember this and come home._

#

Everything Rey told him about New Jersey traffic was a complete fact. Sure, the junction of Routes 209 and 6 was poky and annoying enough in Milford, still on the Pennsylvania side, and once they crossed the Delaware River, it wasn’t _too_ bad. But then Route 80 East halfway through Jersey got more and more cluttered. Soon it was an unholy nightmare of cars and trucks all vying for some coveted position that would somehow get them where they were going faster, despite the stop and go crawl they were stuck in.

Ben asked if it was rush hour. Rey said not yet.

Fuck.

Scranton had nothing on Hoboken. Good God there was no room on the roads, everyone was double parked, and you were lucky if you could make it up to the speed limit of twenty-five with all the damn cars in your way. People honked at the jackasses blocking the road, at people _not_ blocking the road, the split second the light turned green: it was as if no one could drive without using the horn as a vital instrument.

Her apartment building had no garage, and Ben was forced to find a space big enough to fit his pickup truck. Ten blocks away, he finally found something. He couldn’t believe anyone chose to live this way.

Rey walked with a certain confidence he couldn’t fathom while he constantly assessed everyone that even glanced at her. Sure, there were plenty of regular, average people going on about their lives, but there were also entirely too many male gazes turning her way. A few times he heard a whisper or a kissing noise despite him standing right beside her. A sharp glare from him prompted a raise of hands, no one willing to take on his giant self, but all he could think of was leaving Rey to this fate.

And she didn’t look fazed at all by it.

“You sure it’s safe for you to be out here?” he finally had to ask.

Rey snorted. “Lived this way most of my life. It’s not as bad as it probably seems to you.”

“Be nice if these so-called gentlemen could keep their damn tongues inside their mouths.”

Rey shrugged. “I ignore them, and if they come near me, I scream their faces off. On the rare occasion they’re stupid enough to try to touch me, I kick the shit out of them. You got to be tough in the city. And honestly, this isn’t really a big deal. You should try growing up in Newark.”

“That’s worse than this?”

Rey laughed and pulled him closer. Good Lord, how did she live like this? Did his _mother_ live like this? No wonder she was such a tough-ass.

They finally reached her building, and she buzzed the superintendent. After thirty seconds, she buzzed and buzzed and buzzed again, growing angrier by the second. Ben figured he was probably in the bathroom, but then she boiled right into a growl. “He KNOWS I’m coming! I JUST called him!”

“Sweetheart, maybe he’s busy.”

“Oh trust me, he’s not.” She jammed her finger into the button in rapid succession until finally the door buzzed open.

Rey stormed ahead, up a flight of stairs, then another, then another, and reached a door. There she pounded with such fury on her face.

It was so strange. He never saw an ounce of this back home. It was like crossing the Delaware transformed her from sweet sunshine to the storm. He wondered if she ever noticed what being here did to her.

The door finally swung open, and a man only a little taller than her stepped out, hand full of keys. “You ever hear of being patient.”

Rey stuck her finger out. “ _Don’t_ start with me. Just give me my new keys and let me get inside.”

He jingled the huge set in his hand and said nothing. As she bared her teeth, he finally left his apartment and climbed the stairs before her. “You know,” he called back, “it’s not cheap to get a locksmith.”

“You just had to make a separate set. My keys are buried in mud at the bottom of a river. No one’s coming here with them.”

“Procedure. What the landlord tells me to do. Very expensive. He’s going to charge you for it.”

“Then let him.”

The man stopped in front of a door and still just rolled the keys in his hands. “He doesn’t like it when his tenants lose their keys.”

Rey stood with her hand out, a glare on her face that would give a bear pause. “Then he can take it up with the hurricane, now give me my keys.”

The super held up one. “I have to test them first.” He jammed a key. “Oops, not that one. Not that one either. Nope not that one.”

“I do not have the time or patience for your crap. You pull this every time I ever ask you for anything.”

“Nope, not that one.”

“I clearly have a boyfriend now—”

Ben perked. He didn’t know she thought of him in such an official way.

“—so you can stop your crusade to have me all to yourself by dragging out any interaction I have with you.”

Ohhh now Ben got it, and the concept made his blood boil. This bastard was playing with her right before his eyes, not giving a damn. Awfully brave. And stupid.

“Wow, so many keys. One of these has to be it. Whoops, not that one.”

However Ben felt, Rey was already on fire. “I don’t know why you have to pull this shit all the time, I’m sick of it! Give me my fucking keys!”

The super glanced at her. “How about you try not being a bitch for once?”

There was nothing in the world that was going to stop him. Ben grabbed the super by the shirt and yanked him close. “Who the FUCK do you think you’re talking to like that? Huh? HUH?!”

Ben could feel Kylo pumping through his veins. He’d done this so many times back then. Only this time, it was for the right reason.

The man froze in Ben’s grasp. So he pointed into the rounded, snubby face. “You ever disrespect her again, or play games with her, or even ATTEMPT to make a play for her, I’ll put you in the fucking ground, you hear me?” The man just stared, so Ben yanked him closer, teeth clenched in the bastard’s face. “DO YOU, _hear_ me?”

A nod, and Ben let him go. The super yanked a set of keys off his ring and handed it to Rey without looking at her before rushing down the hall.

Ben sucked in a breath and braced his hand on the wall. Fuck, he didn’t need to let that happen. Maybe it was the city, the crowding, the traffic, who knew? But it brought out the worst in him. What the hell would she think about him now, seeing his violent side for the first time?

He forced himself to turn to her, sure he would see fear in her eyes, discomfort. Maybe she’d say a quick goodbye and rush inside, never to see him again. And maybe he deserved it.

Instead, she was…in love. Her smile, that sweet, precious smile that had been missing for a good hour, spread across her face. Rey thrust herself into his arms and hugged him, head against his chest. He held her in turn, breathing a sigh of relief. “Rey, I…I’m sorry if I—”

“Don’t apologize. If it wasn’t you, I was about to say and do the same thing. Tired of him treating me like some prize he’s going to win one day and being nothing but a creep about it.”

He tilted down to look into her eyes. “If he ever gives you trouble again, you call me and I’ll set him straight. Well, you know, if I can find parking out here.”

Rey burst into laughter and held his face, pressing her forehead to his. She sighed as she held him there, as if trying to wring the last few drops out of what they had. Then, with a breath, she pulled away and unlocked the door. “Come on in.”

Ben stepped inside. It was tiny, nothing like the farmhouse, but posh and modern. He stepped over to a set of windows and in the distance could see the New York City skyline. “It’s weird to think that’s my ancestral homeland. Well, technically, so’s Oklahoma on my father’s side.”

Rey chuckled. “Two opposing sides coming together in one very special person. You want something to drink? Eat?”

Ben sighed. He’d stay if he could. “I ought to get back. Don’t know how long it will take with all this…ungodly traffic you deal with around here.”

“You have to at least eat before you go. I have some money in the safe, let me order a pizza.”

“I…really can’t—”

“Ben, you don’t refuse New Jersey pizza. Just trust me.”

She was right. It was by far the best pizza he’d ever tasted. But time grew late, the sun was getting low, and he had a farm to get back to. He extended one of his business cards. “When you get your phone, you can call me any time. I’m just a…hop away over in good ole Walnut Grove, PA, if ever…”

Rey took the card and held it to her chest. “I will.”

“I’ll understand if—”

“Ben, don’t.”

He sighed, shoulders slinking. “It’s just…hard to say goodbye. I know you went through hell, but…what we had after, it was the best time I ever had in my life.”

Rey chuckled. “We just fiddled on the farm and visited your friends.”

He smiled. “And it was the best time in my life.”

She giggled, giggled again, then broke into tears. Ben gathered her in his arms and tried so hard not to let his fall. With a breath into her hair, he said, “Anything you need. Anything. You know where to find me. Anything.”

“I know. And…thank you. For everything.”

“You have no need to thank me.”

“I do—”

“No. Don’t thank me. Your…presence more than made up for anything I did.”

“That’s not true.”

“It is—”

Rey reared back. “I wouldn’t be _alive_ without you! I wouldn’t have been sane! I wouldn’t have been safe and cared for and…alive! In every way I could possibly be.” She placed her hands on his chest and looked at him. “So thank you.”

Ben laid his hands upon hers, savoring their softness. “These past two weeks were the first time I’ve been alive, too. So thank _you_.”

Rey sighed. “I guess we’ll just have to agree on mutual thanks.”

“Alright, I can get behind that.” He smiled and held her once again until reality glinted off the buildings in the distance. “I have to go.”

“I know.”

Though it pained him to do so, he let her go and stepped toward the door. _Tell her you love her. Tell her you love her. No! Don’t do that, you’ll only make her feel guilty. Say it, you fool! Don’t say it!_

He settled for, “Keep in touch,” as he opened the door.

Rey nodded. “I will. Give my love to the gang back home.”

“Will do.” He stepped through the doorway, and she held the door just behind him. In the hallway, he turned once more, trying to get up the will to say what he needed to say. “I…” And faltered. “I’ll miss you.”

“I’ll miss you too.”

His chest heaved with a breath, and he knew he had to go, and he knew he had to tell her, and he—

Rey leapt into his arms and kissed him, so deep and beautiful, hungry yet so full of love, and maybe neither one of them had to say it. Maybe.

She slid out of his arms and smiled, so precious yet so pained. “Have a safe trip going back.”

“I will.”

“I’ll call you.”

“Can’t wait.” He smiled, or at least tried to.

Rey sucked in a breath and turned for her doorway. With one more smile and the softest, “Bye,” she closed the door.

As her footsteps trailed away, he said, “I love you.” And knew it was already too late.

It was time to go home, to his empty, quiet, cold home.

#

The morning, quiet.

House, dark.

Ben’s footsteps echoed through his longtime childhood home, and it didn’t seem familiar anymore.

It was just a shell.

Weekdays were easier because there was so much work to do. But when Sundays rolled along, it reminded him of those quiet days he spent after the storm with Rey. Only it was just quiet now. No Rey. No warmth. No light.

Weeks had passed, and he hadn’t heard a word from her. That settled it, answered the question he never wanted to ask: was it a fling or was it real?

Clearly she didn’t see it as real as he did. And he had to finally accept that.

Rey wasn’t coming back.

He could go to her. He knew her address. He could pound on her door, confess his love, whisk her away, bring her back home where she belonged. But to what end? To find out she didn’t love him the way he loved her?

She knew how to find him. And didn’t.

He got dressed and tended the animals. Beebee was especially affectionate, but it was almost as if she was looking for someone else. He understood. Really, he did.

Whisper was his usual arrogant self, as if he and Ben needed nothing else in the world but each other. If only…

Threepio was quiet and sullen until he finally nudged Ben with his nose. Ben sighed and stroked the long, golden neck of a horse that held beautiful women who never stayed. “I know, Threepio. I miss her too.”

With the animals out to pasture, it was time for breakfast, only he didn’t feel all too hungry. Putting out a giant spread seemed fruitless for just himself. And so he just buttered one of Finn’s pumpkin muffins and sat out on the back porch with a cup of tea.

The humid, cool, morning air made his breath puff out in whirls. A curl of steam rose off his tea. The warmth of the cup felt good on his fingers, as if he was holding the last bit of light left on the planet.

The clouds lay low over the mountains, and he remembered Rey’s serene face every time she sat and watched the same, cup in her hand, shawl wrapped around her delicate shoulders, the warmth of her smile radiating out like the sun that would peek through and chase the clouds away.

No sun today. Only clouds.

Only silence.

The cup trembled in his hand before he realized the pain had risen high enough to spill down his cheeks. “Mama? I’m so alone. I’m so…fucking alone. Why did she have to leave me? Why did _you_ have to leave me? Why does everyone I love leave me?” He set his cup down and wiped his tears on his sleeve. With a sniffle, he continued his conversation into the wind. “What am I gonna do, Mama? I hate this. Everything’s so empty now. I almost got used to it, the quiet, the loneliness, I did, but then she came into my life and…she was something special, Mama. She made this house come alive again. She made everything come alive.

“But she don’t want this life, I guess. Seems no one does. And it’s the only one I know.” He sighed and leaned back in the porch chair. “What do I do now, Mama? What do I do?”

He didn’t expect an answer. What one could she give even if she was around? Ben closed his eyes and tipped his head back, breathing in the mountain air.

If Rey truly felt about him the way he did her, she would have at least called. She had the number, hell, she could look up the dairy and call. That she didn’t meant she saw their experience exactly as he feared she would: a fling after a harrowing life or death moment, a spot of peace to grab onto when you just about had one foot in the grave. Ben? He had seen it as a miracle, a dream come true.

But dreams only seemed to die at his doorstep.

When he opened his eyes, his breath caught in his throat. The sun was breaking through the cloud layer, shining a beam onto the grass where Whisper and Threepio danced around one another.

_You’re not alone,_ he felt somewhere in his soul.

“Neither are you,” he said to the wind.

That day he drove over to Hux’s place and shot targets with his crazy redhead friend. Rose sent him on his way with some warm alpaca socks for the oncoming winter and a few roasts. He stopped by Amilyn’s place to drop off some milk and eggs, one of the roasts, and stayed for a cup of tea. Then he passed by Finn and Poe’s place to drop off another roast as well as eggs and milk and wound up staying for dinner because they wouldn’t let him leave to spend the evening alone.

He wasn’t alone, but the house at night sure felt like it.

The next day, after making his deliveries, he stopped by the animal shelter and brought home a white and gray shaggy mutt with one blue eye who needed a good farm to command.

#

Less than two weeks later, Ben looked up from the week’s receipts at the sound of his dog’s barking. “Just a customer, Artoo.” He tossed on his fleece-lined jean jacket and headed onto the porch.

Artoo went wild with excitement, and Ben had to call him back so the poor customer could get all the way in the drive. Then something caught his eye. The license plates, yellow, New Jersey emblazoned above the letters and numbers. Probably just a tourist looking for local farm fresh goods.

And yet…

The door opened and Ben’s heart just…stopped. Those rich, brown waves hung around her face styled to perfection, her sunglasses and clothing things he could never afford. But her smile? That right there, that was priceless.

“Rey.” He forgot to leave the porch and had to shove himself forward to greet her.

Her smile was sheer perfection as she removed the sunglasses, bearing her delicately made-up face. He’d never seen her like this. God, she was exquisite. “Hi Ben. And who’s this?”

Artoo danced around her like he was happier than Ben to see her. “This is Artoo. He’s my new buddy helping me out here.”

Rey knelt and babbled while she mushed Artoo’s fur and got a face full of kisses in return. For some reason, that made him happier than anything. She stood when Artoo ran off to chase a squirrel.

Ben stuffed his hands in his pockets. “I…never thought in a million years I’d see you come up my driveway out of the blue.” He smiled. “But it sure is nice you did.”

Rey took a short walk around, her eyes taking in the property, the house, everything. She inhaled and exhaled as if it was the first time she ever breathed fresh air. “I should have called. And I’m sorry I didn’t.”

“Oh, it’s alright. I don’t mind the surprise, not at all.”

“I didn’t just mean today. I…I went through a lot. I mean, I was busy trying to get my life back in order: license, car, credit cards, everything. And with so much going on, so much to focus on, time just got away from me.”

Ben recalled Hux telling him the city life would suck her in. His friend was a lunatic, but damn if he wasn’t right.

“Those were two big reasons, but…”

He only raised his brow, prompting her to continue.

She shuffled a foot through the crunchy brown leaves on the grass. “I needed to know. I needed to clear my head, get away from the…shock of it all. I had to know if what I was feeling was some sort of survivor thing or…”

Ben tried not to rock on his heels. “Or?”

She finally looked at him. “Or if everything I felt was real. It was all so sudden, all of it. And nearly dying, well, I had to take that into account, whether I was ready to pull a full 180 and just…”

Ben’s heart was racing, his mouth dry, his body aching to hold her but so damn scared of what she might say next. “Just what, hon?”

She inhaled once again and smiled as if convinced of everything she ever wondered. “I don’t want it anymore. I don’t want Hoboken or Manhattan. I don’t want the corporate job. I don’t want the rushed life and weekend hotspots. I don’t want celebrity yacht parties and country clubs. I don’t want to pretend I’m having a good time. I don’t want to sell my soul and cut my life short every single day I sit in traffic or cram myself into rush hour trains or get screamed at by some exec who thinks he’s commander of the world instead of his department.” She tossed her arms up. “I’ve been living a meaningless life on some fast track into a pointless grave, and it took almost dying to see it.” Then she shook her head. “No, that’s wrong. It took you saving me to see it. To see it all.”

Ben swallowed. “What do you mean?”

“That flood was the biggest fucking wake-up call I’ve ever had in my life, but it wasn’t the dying part that changed everything. It’s what happened after. You, some stranger who didn’t know me for anything, put your life at risk and just jumped in and pulled me out. And not only that, you took me home, held me when I lost my mind, fed me, brought me into your life, into your world. This…house, these mountains, the fresh air not laced with contaminants—”

He had to chuckle at that.

“—horses and chickens, fresh butter and milk, this…this…quiet but rich, oh my God, _rich_ life, with people that just…love and care. Finn and Poe who are the sweetest and most generous people I’ve ever met, and crazy Hux with his big heart and sweet Rose with her even bigger one, and sweet old Amilyn that just sees right into your soul. Do you know, I told people at work how I almost died, and after their shock, they’re like, ‘Ted would have had a shitshow trying to replace you last minute on the Margot Robbie project.’ Your people gave me shoes and bread and underwear in my worst of times, and my people wondered what would happen to a project if I dropped dead.”

Ben found himself infuriated. How could anyone be so cold about this beautiful woman nearly losing her life? He shook his head. “Those people don’t know the jewel they have in you. And they don’t deserve it.”

Rey sighed with a smile. “And then there’s you.”

Ben tightened, not sure what she’d say.

“I’m sorry I took so long to see it, but I had to know. Was it the after effects of nearly dying? Was it hero worship? Was it the life and the land and the community, or was it all just you this whole time?”

Ben found himself shrugging. He hadn’t felt this shy or awkward since his teen years.

“If it was any of those things, then my heart would have fallen off. Quieted. But I realized no, it was you. It was you the whole time. Yes, everything that came with you felt right, felt so perfect, but every night, I didn’t dream of being out here in Pennsylvania. I dreamed of you.”

Ben sucked in a breath, his heart pounding.

“I just wanted you to be with me. I wanted you in the morning at breakfast, in the evening at dinner, on the couch at night, cuddled and warm, and in bed, where I could just hold you and love you, every inch of you, forever, and never have to leave. And I realized, there was nothing Hoboken had that was worth trading for you.”

Ben breathed. “Rey…”

“I love you, Ben. And I want this life with you.”

Ben let out a breath that he had been holding his entire life. “Oh God, Rey…I love you! I’ve loved you all this time. I just didn’t want to say it, to…influence your decisions. I needed to know you…loved me on your own.” He smiled for the first time in weeks. “You love me…and I love you.”

She smiled as tears rimmed her eyes. Then she waved toward her car. “I know we haven’t known each other that long, and I am practical. I realize it’s an adjustment for me, and maybe it might not work out. I didn’t give up my apartment yet, but I gave up the job, and my important stuff’s packed in the car, if you’ll have me, I’ll stay—”

“Stay.” He closed the gap in the three steps between them and grasped her shoulders. “Stay. Oh God, please stay.” He smiled. “I even got the big ole slobbering dog you dreamed of.”

Rey broke into laughter, and it was the most precious thing he’d heard in his life. She slid her arms around his body and buried her face in his chest just like she used to. And he just held her, cheek planted in her silky hair, in love with everything about her, especially that light and warmth that had been missing ever since she was gone.

“Stay,” he whispered one more time.

“I will,” she said into his shirt.

He ever so slowly guided her head back to gaze into the most beautiful eyes he’d ever seen. Sifting through her glossy strands, he said, “I can’t give you the life the city can.”

Rey brushed her fingertips over his brow, and he melted at her delicate touch. “Ben, you’re giving me exactly the life I want. Everything else pales in comparison.”

In that moment, he fell in love with her all over again.

There, beneath a sunbeam that cut through the clouds, Ben kissed that precious mouth of hers, and just like that, his home felt like a home once more.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Poor Ben, his lonely moments on the back porch talking to Leia on the wind broke my own heart to write LOL! Next chapter will be the epilogue, five years later, this time told from Rey's point of view!


	6. Rey's Epilogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Rey looks back at the past five years and her current life with the man she loves.

Rey drove her SUV through the tree-lined drive that led to the house. The windshield wipers shoved rain left and right, and despite having the heat on, she still felt the chill deep into her bones.

No farmer’s market today, far too wet and miserable, so instead she made the rounds delivering goods to their friends, staying a while, and coming back with more stuff. Usually she went with Ben, but she wanted him to sleep in.

It was something he never got to do before she came into his life, and she didn’t mind giving her hard-working husband a day to just lie in bed and get up whenever he felt like it.

A week prior marked five years since the storm that nearly killed her. Then again, she always believed she did die when she got pulled under, or at least a part of her did, the Rey that was just existing but wasn’t really living. Then her angel, her savior, grasped her out of doom and gave her a second chance, to live, really live.

The thunder on the roof quieted when she pulled under the carport, something Ben had set up years back when he decided she was too precious to be getting wet walking from the car to the porch. The rain was getting heavier, and despite the time that had passed and therapy, there were still moments she would panic.

If it was coming down hard, and the house was dark, she couldn’t breathe. If she was in the car and a huge rainstorm came through, she’d have to bury her face and try to breathe through it, try to get a grip on herself.

But Ben was always there, with his broad chest, his strong arms, and his sweet, gentle, deep voice that would just carry her through it. It was rare now, to wind up like that, not like in the beginning, but he still dropped everything and carried her through it.

Just like he did that fateful day.

Artoo shook himself off in the back, and Rey climbed out of the car. There was such a bite in the air today, good day to curl up inside, shut out the cold and wetness, center around the warmth and light. She led Artoo inside, and he must have felt it too, because he immediately hunkered before the fireplace.

Ben was keeping it warm for her while he went out to the barn.

Rey put away the items from their friends and paused to savor the moment. This was the place he took her after it all happened. This was the sanctuary against the storm, the cold, the harrowing maw of death that tried to take her. But this was just a building.

Ben was her home. From that moment he pulled her to safety, to this very morning she woke in his arms, he was and would always be her home.

So much had happened in the five years that passed, besides their wedding. Rey cut ties with the job that was killing her, but not with her clientele. And when Rey set up Rose’s online shop, her new friend balked at charging so much for her hand-knitted items. That was until the orders started rolling through.

And once the celebrities started wearing _Rosie Knits_ accessories, orders at what was once a ridiculous price kept coming through. Rey, Poe, Amilyn, and Rose spent many nights knitting and bitching, and eventually Rose hired some local teens to help. Where once the Huxes were scraping by, they started doing well for themselves, fixing their rundown house and getting themselves vehicles that didn’t require a running start.

Rey got Poe and Finn in touch with some upscale grocery stores that were overjoyed by their specialty produce. More than a few times they received a handwritten card from a celebrity thanking them for such beautiful and tasty treats. Rey even got Amilyn’s black raspberry jams and sauces into those upscale chains.

The farmer’s market became a treat like no other. The same items were there, but Rey arranged them to bring out their customer appeal, and the gang couldn’t believe they hardly had to pack anything back with them by the end of the day. Her contacts even brought more than a few high-paying celebrities to the local area, boosting the economy and making short work of the booths at the market.

But it was Ben who still couldn’t believe the turn Sky Walker Dairy took when she stepped in.

The change came from two places. Rey’s marketing knowhow and business sense streamlined operations. Rey paid for the new software to manage everything, including an accounting system that was so much easier to use than Leia’s vast and endless spreadsheet. Ben got the backend work done in a quarter of the time it used to take him.

When Rey wasn’t busy helping Ben, she took the time to write the story of her ordeal. _Sunshine After a Storm_ sold immediately (a few celebrity endorsements helped) and not only did it hit the top of the New York Times Bestseller list, it was then made into a Hallmark movie.

The result was a slew of money that made any financial concerns disappear. With it, they upgraded the equipment and systems for Sky Walker Dairy, installing an automatic, voluntary milking system which cut the work in half and was gentler on the cows. They could go in as they needed, and the system took care of the rest. This allowed Ben to bring in even more cattle and increased profits.

Besides being able to expand to a wider market, they also added some new innovations. Ben hired a few local teens to perform “Dairy on Demand” deliveries. The boys and girls had been getting involved in all the crazy crap he had been engaged in years ago, and Ben always remained true to his atonement for his past by doing what he could to keep young people out of it. Giving them a healthier, safer way to make money was a simple and easy choice, which also boosted their company. Anyone who needed milk, butter, or eggs in the area at a moment’s notice could simply order “Dairy on Demand” through an app and have it delivered.

With a smooth operation, Ben was finally granted something he’d never had—time for a vacation. So far they had gone to Florida and Hawaii and just returned from a summer trip to Yellowstone (Ben, a country boy, particularly liked this trip.) They even passed by the Ridin’ Solo memorial at the rodeo museum in Oklahoma. Ben signed more autographs than he felt he should have, but Rey told him to savor the moment.

But the money didn’t change them, nor did either want it to. Rey had lived a high life, and it was empty. Ben’s mother had felt the same. And Ben never had a need for it. So they kept it and used it when needed, but nothing mattered more than the love they shared with each other.

After putting away the groceries, Rey nestled onto the couch before the fire, rubbing the chill out of her arms. She looked beside her at Ben’s empty spot and recalled that first night she met him. She had never been so scared and cold in her life and wasn’t sure where the shivering from the temperature ended and the fear began. And looking back, she realized how badly out of her mind she must have been to have curled up in a strange man’s arms and begged him to sleep with her that night. But he obliged, was her sentinel in the storm, a haven, a safe place to curl up and hide from the horrors of reality. His broad chest, massive shoulders, and tree trunk arms held her and protected her from the cold hand of death that had been gripping her arm and pulling her under.

Though she tried to keep the experience out of her mind, she would never forget (nor want to) how she felt that moment when everything fell into ruin and she saw a man fly through the air before she went under. She remembered little about going under or when she was pulled up, but she recalled the feeling of relief, of safety, how he held her in his arms and paddled while she gripped the empty gas can, how he fought out of the water while she scrambled beside him, unable to get a footing. How he held her so they could catch their breaths, safe on dry land as the roaring maelstrom raged from below.

That was when he saved her life. The two weeks that followed were when he saved her soul.

Thump thump thump came the heavy footsteps on the porch, and then the door swung open. Ben stepped in with a bright smile beneath damp tresses, his flannel shirt sleeves shoved up high, forearm muscles gleaming in the firelight. He pulled off his boots while Artoo leapt to his feet, tail wagging for daddy, and got all the rough and tumble hugs and kisses from his human.

“Hey,” he said and dove in for a kiss. His fluffy whiskers fell soft against her chin. “How is everyone?” He unbuttoned his flannel shirt.

“Disappointed the farmer’s market got rained out, but you know them, nothing keeps them down long. Poe said to kiss you once for me and twice for him for that cheese you sent.”

Ben hung the flannel shirt, leaving him in a white tee. “Oh, well then let me collect on that payment.” He leaned down again for another few kisses, then sat and pulled her into his arms.

These were her favorite moments. He did some lifting in the barn which got him just sweaty enough to ooze pheromones, and when those hefty muscular arms encircled her, she would lose herself in his essence. With her hands behind his neck, fingers twirling in his long hair, she sat back and admired him.

He was different from those first two weeks. So cautious he had been then, a little withdrawn, still burdened by the loneliness that plagued him before her arrival. He was so afraid to upset or scare her off, he was closed off in some ways.

Now? Warm and free to be himself, he was perpetual joy, smiling and exuberant, filled with a gusto for life. She loved this look on him most of all.

That and when he rode his black stallion, ebony hair wafting in the wind just like the mane below. God, she fell in love all over again every time the second generation of Ridin’ Solo thundered across the pasture.

They had their challenges, of course they did. He’d withdraw when he got frustrated or upset, she’d scream her head off like a raving banshee when she lost her patience. But they always believed, first and foremost, that they had a bond stronger than any argument, any distance, or any disaster. And they didn’t stay mad for long, not when there was so much joy to be had with one another.

And they prompted the other to grow. Rey took him out of the set ways of the past, even while it scared him, and brought the farm into the future. And Ben showed her the vast joys in a simple life, made her a part of the things he enjoyed.

Including boating, which took her two years to handle (after the disaster, she wasn’t sure she could go to one of those yacht parties ever again either.) The worst of all was taking his fishing boat onto the river that nearly killed her. It required a few tries before she could tolerate riding without having a panic attack, but once she got to the middle of the tranquil part of the river, she settled into the peace of it. Beneath her wasn’t the muddy, pale brown torrent that tried to suck her down. Instead it was crystal clear, tranquil, and teeming with fish (or so Ben told her, though his hook often came up empty.) The birds chirped, day crickets sung. Moisture lay heavy in the air, over the still waters, into the surrounding trees. Tranquil. It had been tranquil. In that moment, she finally forgave the river for that messy little incident.

Truthfully, she had to thank it. It had brought her Ben and her new life.

Then Hux came speeding by screaming, “SOLO! You catch nothing yet?”

And Ben replied, “Not with your dumbass scaring all the fish!”

“Ah you go to hell!”

And Rose waved. “Hi Rey! Catch!” Hux slipped in close and Rose tossed them each a beer before heading upriver.

That was their Huxes.

And moments later, Rey squealed as she reeled in her first ever fish, a nice hefty trout that made Ben smile in joy and pride.

He had taken her into his world, and she never wanted to leave.

Ben interrupted her memories by pulling her onto his chest, just like that first week, his heart beating in her ear, breaths heavy and large just like him.

“So?” he said, stroking her hair. “What do we do on such a lazy, rainy day?”

Rey sighed and inhaled his scent. “Nothing. Absolutely nothing.”

“Nothing’s good. I like nothing.”

Rey giggled and basked in contentment. She didn’t need to _do_ anything. Everything she wanted was right there in her arms.

Actually, there was something she wanted to do, or _someone_.

Rey inhaled as she nuzzled up his chest and into his neck. His scent lay heavy with musk and maleness, hard work and hay. He used to shower right after working in the barn until she convinced him otherwise. She loved that rugged scent on him.

Then that long neck. She had to kiss it, run her tongue over the smooth, star-dusted skin, and wait for his purr of delight that made her body tingle.

Ah, there it was, and now she had to straddle those massive hips of his so she could rain down the deepest kiss upon those plump, inviting lips. Rey held his face in her hands, just to adore every curve, whisker, and speckle, then sunk them into his luxurious mane, nothing but smooth silk and sumptuous waves.

When she pulled back, he regarded her with the softest smile, his head tipped back. “Seems like you have plans after all.”

Rey shook her head. “No plans. Just being with you.” With that, she grasped the hem of his shirt and slid it upwards. He angled himself to let her pull it off, then plopped back, nothing but bare muscle and heaving chest. Reminded her of when he would go outside to split wood, purposely bare from the waist up all because he knew she liked to watch. And he would give her the most devilish smirk, rest the ax over his shoulder, and heave in a breath to make himself even broader. He did all that because he knew what would come next as soon as he entered the house.

Exactly this.

Rey ran her hands all along his arms, savoring every rocky muscle, then down his chest that was nothing short of a boulder. And he just breathed, big brown eyes looking up at her, hips arching to nestle beneath her seat.

She dipped down to run her tongue along his pecs and into the valley between where she teased the tiny island of hairs gathered there. Then she nuzzled her way to a nipple and gave that the lightest licks before sucking it in.

Again he purred his approval, his massive chest rumbling, vibrating right down between her thighs.

“Baby,” he whispered, and it was always during their lovemaking when he called her that. Usually it was hon or sweetheart, but here they were something else, where gentle Ben would let go a little and let himself be ravenous and needy.

Maybe there was even a little touch of Kylo in there. There certainly was that day when he brought her home and yelled at the superintendent. She nearly fell to her knees in orgasmic bliss. The fury in his eyes, his bared teeth, nose edged up in a snarl, how his huge frame dwarfed the little prick who straightened up immediately. No one had ever defended her before. No one. In that moment, she truly believed he was once some kingpin’s enforcer.

Still, she’d always rather have her Ben. So what if he was a little Kylo in the sheets, rarely also in the streets?

As her mouthy kisses planted along the stepping stones of his abdominal muscles, he breathed out and shifted himself, maybe knowing what was coming. How could she resist? Especially when he looked at her like he did now, with eager, hungry, dark eyes, his thick lip between his teeth.

Rey always enjoyed this next part. First the methodical pulling of the belt out of its loops. Just like always, he’d arch his chin up a little, eyes still targeted and wanting. As the leather fell aside, she’d unbutton his jeans. Then came the slow unzip that made him arch his stomach in anticipation and lifted him enough so she could pull his clothing down and release him.

Eyes on his, because she knew how much he liked it, she started with the teasing, tasting licks before taking him as deep as she could go (and hell if that part of him didn’t match the rest of his giant self.)

Ben groaned in the most sensual manner. “Oh baby, do you have any idea what you do to me?”

Rey slid her tongue along his tip. “You deserve every moment.”

He let out a long, sighing breath. “You’re so good to me. So good.”

She nuzzled his pulsing thickness and planted kisses along its length. “I just love you. You’re everything to me.”

He sucked in a breath as she slipped down on him again. “Oh baby, you are the light in my life.” He threaded his fingers into her hair, caressing and adoring, never trying to control her rhythm. He trusted her to his pleasure and was glad to let her take the reins.

Rey loved to watch his heavy breaths, the way he would shove his hand through his hair, then tip his head back and groan before coming back to watch her again. With her past men, she got a kick out of the sense of power she had over them with this act, but with Ben? It was an endless gift for all he gave her: his heart, his soul, and her life.

After some time, he leaned over, his long hair a cascade of ebony, and murmured, “Baby, let me take you to the bedroom.”

Rey gave him one last lick with a kiss at the tip before helping him remove the rest of his clothes. Those thick thighs of his were nothing but mountainous terrain, solid and sinuous like the rest of his body. When he stood, rising so high above her, he was like a god manifesting on the Earth for the sole purpose of her pleasure. With his fingers to her chin, he drew her up to standing and scooped her into his arms.

His strength was never more obvious than when he carried her. It was always with such ease, barely shifting his breath, and not once did she fear he’d let her slip or even whack her head as they passed through doorways. He was nothing but brawn and thickness with the demeanor of an angel.

Ben set her down before the bed and stepped behind her. This was the most preciously intimate part of their lovemaking, strangely enough—how he undressed her, and that was his job, so he declared. Not hers, just his. Those massive arms wrapped around her from behind, just holding her there, while his nose nuzzled into the joint of her neck and shoulder. There he breathed and held her, letting her melt behind his protective wall, letting her ease away all the tension, leave the worries of the world out there beyond the fortress.

Tender at first, always started tender, and then his hands slid up as he drew in a breath, releasing it in a hot stream behind her ear, into her hair, until her body was endless tingles. While his mouth suckled and tasted her neck, he drew up her shirt with the utmost of care and attention, until the very act itself made her shiver in delight. And with the way he held her spellbound at her neck, she let go and opened herself. He could do anything to her at that point and she would thank him for the privilege.

Ben only let her neck go to get the shirt over her head, then dipped back down, soft wet kisses trailing along her opposite shoulder and up her neck. Those giant hands of his spanned almost her entire abdomen as he drew them up her body slowly, as if enjoying every millimeter of her skin. At her bra, he grasped her breasts over the fabric, sliding his fingers over the satin and coming in for another embrace. She loved to put the silky ones on when she expected to possibly have fun that day because she knew how much he loved that slippery feeling beneath his hard-working, calloused fingers.

He straightened and unhooked her bra with a certain sense of dominion, like she was his doll to dress and undress at will. It made her melt and clench, aching for him, for she knew in his hands she would never want for pleasure. The contraption released, he slid the straps off of her shoulders, watched as they fell limp along her upper arm, and that’s when he finally turned her around, to gather the fabric in his fingers and release her to his approving eyes.

Ben had to kneel to reach them properly, damn he was such a giant! He nuzzled his nose and lips into her left breast, basking in the pure softness he enjoyed so deeply. Then that hot, slippery tongue came out to taste along her rosy tip before he swallowed it in a deep suckle. God, she was aching and wet for him as he applied just the right amount of pressure, knowing her body like no one ever had before.

Rey sunk her fingers into his silken raven locks, delighting in the most exquisite mane she had ever known. And he kept it long for her, because he knew how much she enjoyed running her fingers through it: in the morning when they woke, standing next to the pasture, on the way home from a delivery, as he lay his head on her stomach to a movie, and especially when they were intimate.

He turned his attention to her other breast and ran his hand up along her inner thigh, stopping at her soft heat and stroking, tempting, goading.

And when he knew he had teased her enough, he looked up with those precious, big brown eyes of his, full of boyish sweetness no matter how sexy and in charge he liked to appear. Rey ran her fingers over his forehead and down his cheek, adoring him, just plain adoring him and everything that he was.

He closed his eyes to savor the sensation, then with the softest smile pulled down her pants and underpants at once, but slowly, enjoying unwrapping his gift. With his nose at her curly mound, he inhaled then exhaled, letting out a soothing blast of heat that sent a rush of tingles through her body and an equal rush of ache into her region.

“Mmmmm,” he purred right up against her, and she wanted to collapse from the deep vibrato, “can’t wait to get a taste of my favorite treat.” So he did, heat and wetness slithering right into her folds.

“Eager boy,” Rey murmured and sighed as he teased her most sensitive regions. “At least let me get comfy.”

He swallowed. “I will.” And went right back to his work, this time adding his long, thick fingers into the mix, slipping deep inside her. “God, you’re so ready for me already.”

Rey blushed and smiled, lip between her teeth. Her hormones were kicking in big time, especially once her body regulated after quitting the birth control pill. They decided to let whatever happened happen from this point forward, and they both had been insatiable ever since.

Her mind drifted back five years earlier to the sex they had during the second week of her stay with him after the flood. She was always a careful person when it came to sex, but it took every amount of her strength to pull back and finish a different way. He was so caring and cautious about it, despite them having nothing to protect themselves with, but she could feel him so drunk on the moment that if she kept him in her, he would have just let himself go.

And she seriously considered it. Whether it was just the hormones, new love, or maybe some desperate subconscious thing that would force her hand, make her stay with him instead of going back home to a life she hated, she really almost just let him come inside her then, to feel him, see the joy and delicious tension on his face, feel him against her body while they finished as one. But the logical part of her, thankfully able to swim above all those hormones, knew that wasn’t the way they should start. There was a risk regardless, she knew that, all the time knew that, and when her period did come, she looked at it with both relief and disappointment. But it was for the better.

What they had now, what they built beyond the rescue, this mattered more than anything. And whatever happened next would just be another step in their lives together.

Ben stood, towering over her to coax her onto the bed, hinting remnants of Kylo burning hot in his dark gaze. And in the fashion he knew she liked best, he planted the deepest kiss on her, her scent marking his lips, then kept her gaze as he urged her backwards. Rey edged against the bed and sat as he loomed above, coming down at her, nudging between her legs as she scooted back deeper into the mattress. Like a mountain lion hovering above, he hunted her right into position, and she loved the feel of it, the whole action. A sense of being overpowered while still having full power, of feeling safe and taken care of while also being his prey, a loss of control with all the control because he loved her with every fiber of himself, and the only interest he had was her complete desire.

She stopped when she was comfortable, and he descended on her, his body covering her like a giant blanket. Again he sunk his kiss in deep, then trailed them down her neck, across her shoulders, soft little licks peppered in as he made his way down her chest. Two of his giant fingers slid back into her, and she swore they were bigger than some of her past boyfriends’ entire dicks. Her breasts got the royal treatment again while his thumb warmed her back up again. Down her stomach as he murmured sweet whispers of how beautiful she was, how he loved everything about her, especially—and never finished because his tongue was back to work, more precise now, circles, flapping laps, and deep, languid suckles that were mercilessly incredible. Something that good seemed almost impossible to exist, but he knew just how to do it right. Maybe it was those plump lips of his that made the magic, maybe a tongue that could fill her on its own. But mostly it was him, just his own exquisite method of going out of his way to make her feel good.

He built her up high, his fingers gaining speed, curling against her deep inner sanctum to the point she thought she was going to explode and had to call him off. She didn’t want to finish like that. She wanted it with him, completely merged with her, filling her so deep and full that her body would just scream into a ripping orgasm.

And that’s when those dark eyes lit on her again. Hungry, feral. He was coming for her. Motion by motion, he crawled back up to her, and she just yielded, wanting him, wanting everything from him.

Before he was fully in position, she hung her legs about his hips, arching, reaching for him. But he didn’t give in just yet. He dipped his head down low to murmur in her ear, “So hungry for me, huh baby?” And he suckled her neck, knowing what it would do to her.

Melting, she could only softly respond, “Mm hm.”

His pillowy lips fell just outside her ears, whispering, “You want me so deep inside you, don’t you, baby?”

The heat, the vibration, the sensation—she was his already, didn’t he know? _Just take me already!_ “Please.”

He nuzzled under her chin. “You know I will give you whatever you want.”

“And I’ll gladly take it.”

He hovered just outside her lips. “You sure you can take it? All of it? There’s a lot of me to take in.” He grinned and kissed her lips.

“Exactly what I’m hoping for.”

Ben sighed against her lips and finally she felt it, his massiveness pressing against her, seeking amidst her curls, hunting for that slippery heat once more. Rey arched up again, aching and burning for him while he teased at her entrance.

He chuckled through the most precious pursed lips. “Ohhh, so eager for me today. So fucking slippery too, God…” He seemed like he would tease her one more time but lost against his own desire and plunged in deep to her gasp.

Oh, there was so much of him, so full and thick, like iron thrusting in and out of her. Her slickness wrapped around him like a welcoming blanket, offering no resistance, letting his thrusts have full endless access to her most aching of regions.

Strangely, this was one of her favorite positions with him. After spending the working days taking charge, taking command, shoving herself into places to get their products out to as many buyers as possible, this was where she just wanted to relax, be taken care of, be the empress, be worshiped and pleasured to her deepest satisfaction. And she trusted him fully to know just what she liked, how fast, what angles, when she needed a little more to bring them closer to the finale.

And further, she enjoyed his body hovering over hers, like she was safe in a cavern of nothing but musk and rocky muscles speckled with stardust. His pouty lips hung open, deep breaths racing in and out, dark eyes hazy beneath soft eyelashes, gentle furrow in his brow. His hair dangled around him like a thick halo of midnight, sometimes trickling with a spot of dew that sprinkled upon her.

He impaled her deep with a growl and rose, muscles bunching, before slipping out of her to lick her closer to climax once more. Fingers deep inside her, it was like he could sense when she’d start getting close, then sprung back up on her, sinking himself in deep once again, pounding against her without mercy. Deep growls rumbled in his chest, and God she loved this so much, loved all of it.

She could always tell when he was fighting to keep from the edge by how his moans would raise in pitch, breaths deepening and picking up in speed. Desperate, he would slip out once again and attack her clit until she grabbed the sheets and sometimes ripped them off the mattress. Then he was on her again, panting, his fast, high pitched soft cries screaming of his desperation to hold on, hold out for her.

Then he hit that heavy grind, insisting she follow him over the edge, growling, teeth clenched, until she drifted into that heavenly high of absolute perfection. She ground against him in return, wanting it so badly, wanting that completion with him just filling her, his body pressed against hers, his nose just outside hers while he fought to hold on.

And when she finally floated upon that cresting wave and crashed onto the shore, it was just so much, too much, an orgasm so explosive she just screamed on the verge of sobbing. His panting reached a fever pitch until he grunted into a growling roar, face planted in her shoulder, hips in a sporadic thrust rhythm that she just continued to ride, to fully suck every amount of pleasure out of him.

Among other things.

Panting, his sweaty body pressed against hers but held up just enough not to crush her, he remained connected to her. These moments were the most sacred, where they basked in the remnants of the utmost pleasure and love they gave one another.

She felt him swallow and suck in a breath, then he rose, an adorable soft grin on his face. These kisses were much softer, gentler, full of love and tenderness instead of rip-roaring lust. Finishing with a few soft pecks, one of which she planted on his prominent nose, he smiled that incredible, dimple-soaked smile of his and wiggled his hips into her one more time before slipping off and dropping to the side.

Ben’s chest rose and fell as he worked to catch his breath. Rey wrapped the blanket around herself, always so chilly afterward, and nestled against Ben’s hot, pink-toasted chest.

And right there would always be her favorite spot, safe and centered on his chest, this perfect man—in spite of and because of his flaws—who pulled her out of hell to live this beautiful life with him.

After their collective naps and continued cuddling, Rey and Ben sat on the back porch while dinner cooked in the oven, Artoo curled at their feet, Beebee the cat lazing on an empty chair. The rain had let up a while ago, but there was still a bite in the humid air. Rey nestled deeper in the quilt she had knitted along with collective tiles from Rose, Poe, Amilyn, and even Ben, who had learned a bit just so he could add to the special blanket. Hot cups of cider from FinnPoe Orchards warming their hands, they sat content watching the clouds dancing around the mountains in the distance.

Ben kissed her head and cuddled her closer. “You know you’re the best thing that ever happened to me.”

Rey rested her head back on his shoulder. “Funny, I was just thinking the same thing about you.”

She felt his kiss on her head along with another purr of contentment, and in that moment, the clouds parted enough to let a sunbeam bathe the golden-green pasture, lighting up the landscape.

Sunshine after a storm.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> When the local forecast calls for heavy rains, 3-4 inches or more, I can already tell I won't have a restful night (and it almost always happens at night.) Living at the base of a mountain range, a simple position of clouds or air current could mean the difference between nothing and potential evacuation. I usually spend the night watching the radar, predicting how much rain will continue to fall versus has already fallen, and watching the flood gauges online to determine whether the water will continue to rise or go down. More than a few times in the 20 years we've lived here, the water has come up to our back patio. Once during a hurricane it actually rose 6 inches on the house foundation. During a hurricane before we moved in, the house got 5 inches of water inside from the creek flooding. Some of the boards are still warped. Luckily changes were made to the bridges and that same flood height only resulted in water touching the foundation, not getting in the house. It's highly unlikely I'd get blasted by a wall of water like Rey's cabin did, but waking up and stepping into water is a real possibility (we have a water sensor installed, but only useful once it's already a big problem!)
> 
> In 1971, an abnormal stormfront got stuck in the mountains just north of where I live. the result sent a 13 foot wall of water down the mountainsides and into the valley below, blasting through the town and reaching 4 ft inside the house. Three people died in the surrounding, affected towns, including a young man who was trying to rescue someone else and got pinned by the current under water. 
> 
> Some of the scenes that were inspired by "Devastation on the Delaware"
> 
> 1\. Rey losing her shoes in the current - Actually, some who were caught in the floods came out missing clothes or naked, but I didn't want to go that route.
> 
> 2\. The cabin being obliterated leaving only the foundation behind - There is currently a park that's a dedicated memorial where the inspiration for this happened.
> 
> 3\. Destroyed shed - Houses in the book had chunks of them ripped off when the massive 30 ft wall of water came through.
> 
> 4\. Wall of water - The book goes further into it, more than just a dam that let go, basically a group of events that contributed to the wall of water that swept through the area.
> 
> 5\. Dam breach - As of this writing, a few ponds in the county are currently closed/drained for dam upgrades due to potential for breach due to age. 
> 
> Regarding Wayne County, I'm pretty sure there's no spot that could become an isolated island due to bridges being out, which is why the town is fictional in this. But there are plenty of waterways, and I recall some smaller bridges on dirt roads getting pummeled after a storm. It's one of my favorite places to go, and I remember living in the city in NJ as a kid and getting to ride out to the mountains to stay for a week with family, the forests, the farms and cows, the fresh air, actual wildlife besides pigeons and rats, crystal clear, non-contaminated water, it was always my happy spot, even so many years later, even when I left the city long ago.
> 
> And yes, my "cast iron chicken" is a fan favorite around here. You'll need a cast iron lid to fit your pan, usually found on a camping dutch oven. I heat the lid in the oven while the chicken is browning, hence why you need the cast iron lid. Works best on good chicken, not the super cheap type injected with way too much water.
> 
> Anyway, thank you all so much for reading, and thanks again to Mrscrane123 for the prompt and the moodboard. I got to visit a place in my head that I didn't get to enjoy this year, and with Ben it's all the better!

**Author's Note:**

> Follow me on [Twitter](https://twitter.com/shannon_enloe) @shannon_enloe and [ Facebook](https://fb.me/enloeddmedia) @enloeddmedia and [Tumblr](https://enloeddmedia.tumblr.com/) enloeddmedia


End file.
